The Descent of Gray
by The Reflecting Bird
Summary: After a tragic accident, Gray is forced to reconsider the way he views life. The road to recovery will be anything but easy for him. Contains events from HM64 and includes allusions to HM:MM. Rated T for dark moments.
1. Chapter 1- Existence

**Author's Notes:** Hey there! I'm back! ... Don't remember me? Well, here's your first chance to read my... err... interesting stories. If you do remember my stories (most likely _The Place Where No One Weeps_), then thanks for coming back!

Like that story, I've been working on this for some time, but wanted to get far enough along that you can know what to expect going forward before publishing. After this, I'll mostly being doing one chapter additions. I don't know how long it will take me to finish this... but I will finish.

An extra note on the writing: I've done something a little different this time around. While written in the third person, the narrative often delves in and out of the characters' thoughts without much introduction. I like it, but I can see how it can be confusing. It's probably obvious most of the time, but I thought I'd give a warning.

Please read, and reviews are always welcome!

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The Descent of Gray

**Chapter One- Existence**

Gray never was a loud person- even as a teenager. Well, some who had known him for his whole life would say that he was mildly energetic as a young child, but all agree that he was certainly rather quiet after his mother passed away at the age of ten.

Doug was not a bad father, but Gray knew that a single parent who worked as much as he did wouldn't be enough to provide the attention needed by his younger sister. Gray took his role as his sister's keeper very seriously. His efforts were not in vain, as Ann grew up maturely despite her seemingly endless supply of energy. Apparently she got all of those "fun" genes that skipped over the unfortunate Gray. Though he missed out on those, Gray wasn't spared from the ginger hair that his fiery grandmother (who Ann was named after) passed down to all of her descendants.

Despite his flamboyant hair, Gray was nothing of the kind. The only two places where Gray could relax were the bar and the racetrack. He had his first beer on the night of his twenty-first birthday. He had been training on his horse as soon as his feet could reach the stirrups. He began his official racing career with his father's permission at the age of sixteen- a Flowerbud Village record. An even more impressive record than this was his performance in the annual horse races held in town. He placed bronze in his first two years, followed up by three victories. His father had told him that he could move up to regional races once he won his fourth title. Unfortunately, the following year he finished with second place after being passed in the final seconds. Gray promised himself that he would not let such a thing happen again.

These two locations- the bar and the racetrack- often went hand in hand. The night before every race, he would relax at Duke's bar where his friends would buy him one last drink. Such was the case this year, when Gray was in pursuit of his fourth title.

His "friends" were those few who didn't annoy Gray. For example, Harris the mailman was too dorky, and Jeff, who worked at the bakery, was too long-winded. Those who Gray could tolerate included Zack and Rick. Zack was a strong, nearly middle-aged man of few words whose job was to ship produce out of the village. Rick was more annoying to Gray, but he was his cousin. Gray could deal with family. This time, Zack took up the tab as he returned to their table with the drink.

"This one's on me, so you better not blow it this time," Zack said upon sitting down.

Gray took his first sip before speaking. "I will, assuming that Tatami isn't running tomorrow. I'm not kidding, that horse is on steroids or something."

"Are you saying that I should be putting my money down on him if he's running in your race?" Zack replied with amusement.

Gray snorted. "I don't plan on losing to that bum again. I've been training Cliffgard to be ready for that final burst Tatami always has at the post. Needless to say, it won't happen."

As Gray began his final gulp to finish off his glass, a waft of cooler air permeated the room as the doors from outside swung open. The three looked towards the source to see three young women stepping across the threshold. Though these people did not live in Flowerbud, they were regular attendees of the festivals there. Gray didn't know their names, but they had spoken on a couple of occasions.

Gray snickered when he saw the nervous look plastered on Rick's face. "Uncomfortable around the ladies, eh?" Rick shook his head. "Of course not, Gray… I'm just not as smooth as you are."

Both Gray and Zack laughed, the second of which cut in. "We all know that I'm the ladies' man at this table," he said.

Gray couldn't help but take the free opportunity. "No offense, but I think that you might be a little on the old side for them." It was true. Zack was actually a widower who had a young daughter named May. But he didn't seem to be the kind of person that wouldn't consider remarrying.

Rick's lips pursed as if he wanted to laugh, but he wisely held it in, lest he risk a clobbering from Zack. Zack could have taken down Gray as well, but the fight wouldn't have been worth the effort.

"In that case," Zack answered back, "with your youthful knowledge, which one of them would you go after?"

Gray rubbed his chin as he thought. "Well, straight hair looks dependable… but I must say that I'm probably most attracted by pigtails." That was just the answer that Zack was looking for. "You have a thing for chicks that look ten years old? I'm afraid that's even out of your age range." "What can I say? I've always had a thing for the cute ones."

By this time, the three girls had already taken their orders and, deciding to not sit at either the nerd or drunk tables, joined these three. The girl with the straight hair and the hat appeared to be the leader, and she accordingly spoke first.

"So… are any of you th-… two… you with the hat running in the race tomorrow?" Initially going to ask all three of us, she quickly discounted Rick as looking too out of shape and then determined that Zack was too large to be a jockey. Zack didn't seem to care, but Rick was a bit bothered (considering his reason for being marked off the list wasn't as acceptable).

"I am."

The woman with the curly hair cut in. "Hey! Are you the guy who got beat by a head last year? I hit the trifecta on that race!"

Gray nodded his head, unable to actually speak about the event. Still, the girls thought it would be a good idea to continue asking him questions- this time it being the girl with the pigtails. "So, what do you jockeys do when you're not racing? You know, like a job?"

"I'm a jockey. That is how I make money. It's what I do, it's who I am."

"But you can't race for forever," she insisted, "you have to do… _something_ on the side."

Gray was in fact quite tired of the conversation. "My family runs a farm, but racing is a respectable job. I don't suppose you three actually do anything for a living yourselves other than going from town to town trying to find a husband."

Rick looked down in embarrassment and adjusted his glasses, while Zack turned to Gray in surprise. The girls with the straight and curly hair frowned in disgust, while Pigtails simply tried to take in what he had just said. Straight Hair took up for her. "Well, at least we know one horse not to bet on." She nodded to Rick and Zack. "Have a good night, you two."

With that, the three joined the nerd table after getting their drinks from Duke. Gray shrugged as he stood up to get round two.

"Those three sure seem to be in a bad mood tonight."


	2. Chapter 2- The Superman

**Chapter Two- The Superman**

Excluding the winery, there were two farms maintained at Flowerbud Village: the Green Ranch, run by Doug and his children, and the one run by the older farmer Pete. Doug never was a great jockey, and the fading Pete hadn't run in forty years. Ann had no interest in participating, despite rather enjoying watching the races and helping Gray train.

It is for this reason that Gray was the hometown hero every spring on the day of the Horse Festival. Every year, he, Ann, and his father would lead Cliffgard from the ranch and through the town where people would gather to watch them pass and give any last encouragements. Every year, Ann would help one of the children up on the saddle with Gray to ride along until reaching the town square, which everyone found a cute idea (the saddle would be removed as soon as they reached the paddock).

Gray, of course, wasn't one who actively sought out opportunities for attention, but he could afford it just one day a year. He probably enjoyed it a little, though he would never admit to it.

This year was just like any other- this time it being little Stu riding across town, with Ann holding his arm the whole way, which was shaking with nervousness. After that, the first pressing question would be which horses would run in Gray's race. The Mayor, Thomas, had the task of putting together the day's rosters. It is generally assumed that he would put Gray with the slower horses; unfortunately, he had a history of getting things all confused (despite being directly told by Doug what to do), so there was always reason to worry.

After taking Cliffgard to the paddock, the three made their way up to the square, where Mayor Thomas would have racecards available. Ann scooped one up and took a step away before Gray or Doug could look and read the names out loud.

"Tingen… Kassie… Passio… Ta-Taraba, thank goodness… and Shioka!" Ann literally tossed the sheet towards Doug so she could give Gray two fist bumps, which he slowly returned. "No Tatami! You can beat these losers!"

Doug shook his head as he read the racecard for himself. "It's favorable, but don't let your guard down. There's five other horses, and you have to beat them all. There's a lot on the line here."

Gray didn't know which was worse- Ann's optimism was bound to jinx him, while Doug's pessimism was making Gray jittery.

They had the first race, though, so the three promptly returned to the paddock to prepare for the race. Gray dressed in his silks as the saddle was replaced and other preparations were made. Then, there was nothing to do but wait as Gray and the other jockeys led the horses around the walking ring. Gray knew that he would be the favorite for the race- he simply couldn't let his hometown down. Not to mention, winning number four meant a lot to him, and he didn't want to have to wait again.

After a couple of minutes, during which the jockeys exchanged playful taunting, Mayor Thomas rung a bell as Doug opened a gate on the outer rail of the track. This signaled five minutes until post, so the horses proceeded onto the track. Gray unfortunately drew number five, which meant he would have to work his way to the rail.

Flowerbud did not have a starting gate, so Doug had to try keeping the horses situated behind a starting line. This was always a rather difficult task as the horses naturally wanted to try pulling ahead, and the jockeys subtly encouraged them to cheat a little.

While waiting, Gray glanced to his side where the spectators stood on the hillside waiting for the upcoming race. Most were from his hometown, so he raised his right hand towards the crowd while waiting, which responded with a roar of cheering.

Gray lowered his goggles onto his eyes and returned his focus to the track ahead. Those people counted on him. Even more so, Gray counted on himself. There was no way he was going to allow himself to lose, no matter what it took.

Doug appeared at the side with a bell in hand, prompting Gray to tighten his grip on the reigns.

"Now," he began, "As we do not own a gate, I'll warn you with a 'mark' before I ring this bell. Please stay behind the line before it goes off; otherwise, we will have no choice but to disqualify you. And of course, we want a clean race. I'll ring the bell again if there is a bad break- if there is any bumping after that, you will be scratched. Remember to enjoy the race; we will begin shortly."

Despite what Doug had said, Gray felt someone kick him from his right. It was Passio's jockey, who Gray had been on poor terms with ever since their first race, where he infamously cut the charging Passio off to keep him out of the money. It was obviously deliberate, though Gray continued to deny it.

"Listen to daddy, kid," he told Gray curtly, "Don't think that you can continue being the biggest jerk out here without stirring up the pot."

Gray tried his best to ignore him, so all he gave in response was a grim shake of the head. He reminded himself that some people will always be sore losers.

"Riders!" Gray held his breath in anticipation as he snapped back to the race. Jump out of the gate fast to ensure immediate merging to the rail, making sure to force Passio to pull up behind the rest in the meantime. No, play it safe to make sure he didn't get beat at the very end again. There's nothing as frustrating as…

"Mark…"

The bell rang as the thoughts continued to spin around Gray's head. Thankfully, Cliffgard was prepared for the bell.

The break was clean, but all the horses came out at full speed. Cliffgard's best attribute was his ability to run a steady race, but Gray believed that he couldn't afford being left eating all the dust on the turn.

Even worse was Passio, who came out at a ridiculous pace. His jockey was clearly trying to cut off Cliffgard. Gray had time to react, so he pushed Cliffgard far harder than he usually would keep his opponent from passing.

The grudge match resulted in the two leading the pack coming into the backstretch. Gray had maintained the inside position, now on the rail, while Passio held just a head back to his side. By this point they had settled into a more reasonable pace, which encouraged Gray, who believed that Cliffgard could maintain the speed until the final turn.

Still, Passio was aiming for a pass- while Gray didn't want to push Cliffgard any further, he had to stop Passio. This was Gray's race to lose, and he wanted to be in control. Plus, Passio's jockey was a downright jerk.

Gray had an idea, though, that could solve both problems. Rather than speeding up, Gray decided the best idea would be to pull Cliffgard hard to the right, forcing Passio to either back off or swerve out to the middle of the track to avoid contact. This would hopefully break the horse's stride. Gray and Cliffgard's experience would be enough to prevent anything of this kind from happening to the two of them.

At the halfway mark, Gray put his plan into effect. Passio's jockey cursed and pulled off rather than being run further outside. Gray smiled as he looked back to see the results for himself when he felt Cliffgard abruptly readjusting his own stride.

Gray wasn't focused on what was ahead, so the jolt took him by surprise. Instinctively, reacting as if Cliffgard was about to toss him off, Gray yanked on the bit. This caused Cliffgard to thrash around, throwing Gray from the saddle.

Gray's left foot was pinned in the stirrup while the rest of his body was tossed to the dirt. The motion twisted his ankle around sharply, but Gray could only register an awkward grinding in it over the bumping and scrapping of his face and hands against the ground.

Cliffgard did not initially stop to spare his passenger from any further injury, but he did gallop out of control towards the outside rail, preventing Gray from being trampled by the rest of the competitors. Those who passed the scene of the accident kept on racing, unaware of how serious the situation was.

The jumpy horse finally settled down before entering the final turn, far away from any help. Gray, with shaking hands and clouded vision, reached up to extract his still tangled ankle. He wasn't successful. Rather than finishing the task, Gray collapsed back onto his back and, turning to his side, coughed up a mess of blood and saliva.

Gray caught Ann hoping over the rail and racing across the infield with someone else just behind to assist out of the corner of his eye, but this was the last thing he saw before completely losing consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3- Nausea

**Chapter Three- Nausea**

Within a second of seeing Gray beginning to shift off the saddle, Ann began to jog down the hill in case something went wrong. No one else acted until he began to drag across the ground limply.

Ann prepared to scale the rail but hesitated at the last moment. To someone else, it might appear that she was afraid of the other racehorses were rapidly approaching. The real reason she stopped was so she could predict just how serious of an injury it was going to be. She waved to Zack to follow her. Everyone was now transfixed on watching Cliffgard's trail across the track while shouting and pointing at the sight. Ann had to yell over the noise.

"Zack! Give me some help here! We need something to get him off the track with!"

Zack jumped at the sound of her screeching voice but did as he was told. The first thing he could think of was a sheet covering a table where the baker Jeff was selling concessions. Zack ripped it off, causing the articles to scatter across the ground. Rather than complaining, Jeff joined Zack as he began to descend the hill.

The other horses by now having completed the race, the three of them sprinted towards Gray's final location with the sheet in hand, blowing in the wind.

The sight of Gray lying in the dirt, still hooked up to his horse had a visible impact on all three of the responders. Not only was his left leg turned in an unnatural angle, but his arms and right leg were shredded while his face was covered in so much crimson that the actual placement of the injuries was impossible to determine.

After taking a moment to examine the situation, the three went to work. Zack began to spread out the sheet on the track so it would be prepared for when they would lift Gray onto it. Jeff tore open Gray's silks to see if his body had sustained any other serious injuries. Ann set to finally detaching Gray's foot from the stirrup.

Her primary fear was that if she were to try removing it, further damage could be accrued. For that reason, she held Gray's leg still while pulling down on the saddle. This gave enough slack that she was able to remove the stirrup with ease. After accomplishing this, Ann slowly lowered his leg to the ground.

Jeff declared that there was no serious chest injury, so after they had cleaned up Gray's face with the silks they had torn off, the three began the transition to the sheet that they would bring him back into town on. While it was a shoddy method of transportation for someone who almost assuredly had broken bones, there weren't any stretchers lying around to use, and no one thought to bring down a sturdier surface like the table itself. The lack of on-hand medical equipment was obviously a concern that would have to be addressed during future races.

With Ann holding his legs, Jeff his torso, and Zack his head, they counted to three and delicately lifted him a foot off the ground, moved a step sideways, and set him down with care. Gray stirred slightly when they did so, but he never gained perception of what was happening.

The two men took one side of the sheet and pulled it up to their shoulders. Rather than running, the two moved in unison at what was the fastest pace that could be considered a "walk." Ann was left behind, who took the opportunity to trace all of what had led up to the fall by walking along Cliffgard's hoof prints still observable in the dirt. She did this primarily as an excuse to hide her deep distress; however, one may have noticed her hands uncontrollably shaking ever slightly had he been observant.

As the two passed back up the hill with their burden in hand, no one could resist standing upon their toes to try catching a glimpse of Gray. Jeff and Zack did their best to shield the unfortunate young man from the public.

Their intended destination was the old potion shop dealer's house, who, along with the town's midwife, would be the only people with any idea of how to treat Gray's wounds.

Assuming that these two would follow behind them shortly to help, Jeff and Zack took Gray inside the potion dealer's house. As his main room was cluttered, they barged into the bedroom of the potion shop dealer's two grandchildren, Kent and Stu. They laid Gray down on Stu's bed while they pulled Kent's into the middle of the room, where there would be plenty of space to perform any necessary operations. Before they shifted Gray onto that bed, they stripped Kent's comforter, threw it onto Stu's bed, and replaced it with a cheap blanket that the dealer would care less about ruining from all the blood.

The sheet they had originally thrown Gray onto was now thoroughly stained, so they kept him on top of it in hope that it would prevent at least some damage to Kent's bed.

The potion shop dealer, as Zack and Jeff had hoped, did hustle back to his house with the town's midwife not far behind. Normally, these were two very carefree people, but the seriousness of the situation was evident from the expressions on their faces.

"How… sir… just how ba-."

The potion shop dealer cut the reeling Zack off.

"We will do what we can. The best thing you two can do is stay out of the way. Go home and wash yourselves off. We'll let you know when we're done."

There are few worse feeling than knowing that you have absolutely no control of the situation. As hard as Zack tried to persuade himself otherwise, it was obvious that Gray's condition was very dire. No one walks away with injuries like that with little long-term effects. The real thing to hope for was that Gray would be able to walk again.

Such was the primary focus of the operations that the two village doctors performed on Gray that day. His ability to race again was very low priority- mainly because it was also a low possibility.

The work passed on into the night. No one received any news about the results until the midwife met with Gray's father at his shop at about ten in the evening. When Doug came out an hour later, he refused to answer any questions. None were really necessary, though, as whatever happened was obviously not satisfactory.


	4. Chapter 4- The Shatters

**Chapter Four- The Shatters**

Gray opened his eyes for the first time at about seven the next morning. He had no recollection of ever being at the potion dealer's house, as he was now spread out on the single bed in his family's guesthouse. It was obvious to him that he would be living here while recovering. It offered more space and better ventilation than his own room at the store, but it was also sparsely furnished for its size. Besides the bed, there was little beyond a stove in the far corner and a wobbly table with a couple cheap chairs.

Sensing that someone else was in the room, Gray instinctively sat up. There were, in fact, two people in the room. Ann was knots with a small piece of rope while Doug was flipping through the pages of a notebook. Both looked up when they heard Gray's movements.

"Son…" Doug started.

"-Will I be able to ride?"

"… No, son. No you will not. The damage done to your leg, the pressure wou-."

"-I don't need to know the details. You're free to leave."

Doug stayed there for a few minutes, looking as if he was about to speak the whole time. Eventually, though, he closed his notebook and said he needed to get back to the shop. Gray didn't respond.

In fact, he didn't say another word for the rest of the day. Ann left briefly and returned with a cup of broth, but Gray only glared at her when she held it up to give to him. Frowning, she set it down on Gray's nightstand and left for the day. She found the cup only half empty the next morning.

No one came the first day to allow Gray to soak in the situation. Over the following days, though, many residents of Flowerbud flowed by to show their sympathies. Gray took in their words with no signs of emotion. Once each finished their spill, Gray would only remark, "Is that all?"

The truth was that he was disgusted with them. They would say things along the lines of, "I know how you feel" or "testing builds perseverance." To him, these were empty words; they had no idea how he felt. He could tell from their faces that they were only there because it was expected of them. Gray couldn't even stand the company of his own father. He could see it in Doug's expression- he knew that Gray had screwed up… that the accident was his own fault. True as it was, he didn't have to be reminded of it. He judged himself enough as it was; Gray didn't need his father's disappointed glances.

Ann was alright, but Gray didn't want to talk with her. She had pushed him to fight at that race- in his mind, she shared some of the blame. Besides her, there were only two others whose company didn't repel him.

The first person to make an impression on him was Popuri, the daughter of the couple that ran the flower shop who was probably a year or two younger than Gray. What set her apart from the others? It was that she did not say a word the entire time she was there. Before then, Gray had never seen her without Popuri firing off about a thousand words per minute. This time, though, she had nothing to say. Rather, she sat in a chair reading a book. Whenever Gray would shift, she would look up as if seeing if he needed anything. Eventually he began to move to deliberately get her to look at him. At some point, Gray fell asleep due to his medications. When he awoke, Popuri was gone. There was no way to know how long she had been there.

The other notable visitor was Pete, the aging rival ranch owner. While most simply told Gray how sorry they were, Pete rather unorthodoxly began asking him questions.

"What does it feel like, son?"

"… What?"

"Your leg?"

"… My knee feels like it is being continually compressed by a vise, my shin and calve feel like they have been torn apart by a butcher and grounded up, and all I can feel in my ankle is a sickening absence of pain."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what you are going through… but I wanted a picture in my mind."

Pete paused a moment before changing subjects. "You know… you remind me of my grandson."

"Ah."

"Truly. He's about your age. Do you remember him?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you would. He's a good chap, like yourself. Always looking for an adventure. You know, he once stole my wife's music box when he was five. The funny part was that he thought he could get away with it without us noticing! Ha! Well, we played along as we wanted to see just what his plans were with it. Do you know what that was? He buried it! I never saw him dig it back up, so I'm sure that it is still there. Why would he do that, you ask? That music box was a cheaply built pawn off that my mother gave us for our wedding. Needless to say, it paled in comparison to what her mother gave us! Ha! Well, he hated that thing's tune, but by burying it he made it a treasure… something special. If I dug it up today, it might actually be worth something if it still worked."

The old man continued on like this for some time despite the fact that Gray never gave a response longer than five words. One would have thought that Gray was trying to ignore him; in actuality, Gray was taking in every word. He listened as if it was a normal conversation- something that hadn't had since the accident. For brief moments he was even able to forget it altogether. It was soothing.

This went on for a couple of hours before Pete slowly stood up.

"It's about time that I head home, Gray. Would you like me to stop by again tomorrow?"

"No."

Pete nodded as if he expected the answer.

"Well then, I hope to see you walking soon. Be sure to stop by my ranch."

Gray watched him intently as he left and listened until his footsteps were no longer audible. Things plunged back into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5- The Water

**Chapter Five- The Water**

It has been stated that Gray actually enjoyed the company of the old man. Why did Gray tell him not to return, then?

Gray didn't think he deserved to be comforted.

The state of his mind had quickly, perhaps immediately, been lost in swirls of gray storm clouds. Whose fault was the accident? Gray's fault. Was it some cruel punishment from the heavens? It did occur to him, but Gray quickly dismissed this. There was no reason behind it- it just happened. A brash decision that he would pay for again and again throughout the rest of his life. It was over; he did what he did and now he earned its punishment. No one needed to comfort him. Any comfort he would receive would only be temporary; why even bother with this?

What purpose he had in life had been drained in a few tumultuous seconds. But was it really a purpose? No. Only an illusion of a purpose. Gray couldn't ride forever. All it took was one glance at the old man to see that. What was the point of something finite? A few trophies to hang on his wall to be forgotten by his children and disposed of by his grandchildren? No. He would die, they would die, everyone would die. He could publish an autobiography that would make its way into the homes of millions. He would be immortalized… at least until the world burned up. And eventually, only darkness.

Such thoughts plagued Gray's mind. The bed only further confined him to sulk in stillness. He had to move.

Gray didn't think he would be able to stand, so he pushed off his nightstand as leverage to roll off onto the floor. He landed with a heavy thud in a shriek of pain.

This cry must have been loud, as Ann came running into his house only moments later.

"Goodness Gray, what do you think you were doing?! That's only going to make things worse! Here, let me help you up."

Gray didn't have the energy to resist. Once Ann had him resettled, she asked, "Is there anything else you need?"

"Yes. Would you please tell everyone that no one is to enter this house? No one! And I would appreciate if you only stopped long enough to drop off my food… no more. Please."

Ann pursed her lips and gave him a long look as if asking herself, "What is the matter with him?" She never asked out loud, but only shrugged as she told him that she would do as he asked.

Gray was confined to his bed for two weeks, during which the condition of his mind continued to degenerate. He hated the light, he hated the sounds of the singing birds. It was as if the rest of the world was in denial of its true destiny of death. The birds would sing and sing, but to what? They accomplished nothing real; they only sing to nothing in particular before dying. What makes it all the worse is when one realizes that man is no different from the bird.

Ann entered the stuffy house reluctantly only to provide Gray with sustenance. Half the time the food and drink were not even touched.

At the end of this two week mark, though, she entered with another purpose. She came holding crutches.

"Gray, are you awake?"

"Yes."

"I was told that after a couple weeks that you should start trying to walk. It's the only way that your leg is going to get better."

Gray sneered. Without hesitation, he spun sideways on his bed so that his feet could touch the ground. He then stood up and gave a short bow. He had been practicing to stand for the entire two weeks to alleviate his stagnation. He had mastered the technique four days earlier.

He had yet to take a step yet, though. As he took one towards Ann, he groaned as his leg gave out under him. Ann managed to catch him before he hit the ground and helped him lean against the wall.

"Try using the crutches, you arrogant dufus."

Gray smiled grimly. "As you wish, mother," he said in as condescending of a tone as possible.

His smile was wiped away as Ann shook him roughly.

"Don't you ever use Mom's name that way! What's wrong with you? Is my brother still there? I thought you hurt your leg, not your heart!"

"You don't get it, do you, Ann? Why do you care about me? Why should you?" This was the first thing in a long time that did not actually sound hateful. Ann did not go without noticing this.

"… Gray, I don't know what's wrong with you. I really don't. But you can't just keep holding it in like this. It's killing you. I can see it in your eyes. You're dying. Not from any sickness. You're just killing yourself. Here, I think a walk outside will help. I'll come with you, if you want. Where do you want to go?"

"The beach."

"Not bad! The beach is a great idea. Let's go."

The walk there was absolutely quiet; to Gray's credit, he actually was trying to think of something positive to say- it was just that his attempts were futile. Once there, he finally found his voice.

"Let's sit here," he said once they stood in some sand just beyond the furthest reaches of the waves.

"Sure thing! We might get our feet wet, though."

"I'm not really worried about getting wet."

Ann helped him sit down before joining him on his left. Gray's crutches rested in between the siblings.

Gray grabbed a small pebble sitting next to him, reached back, and hurled it as far as he could into the ocean. Though he was performing this action, his thoughts were still on darker matters. This time he was cursing the ocean. Why? It didn't offer him enough protection. An island is a beautiful thing- containment, purity, stability. But Flowerbud faced the ocean in only one direction. It provided no boundaries for Gray's imagination. Nothing could be taken as a whole object but only as a piece of an immense chaotic world. There is no logic that can be constructed out of the mass swirl of ideas. There is no boundary to the planet itself- there are no corners, only never-ending lines around the world.

Ann, seeing Gray, tossed a pebble out into the ocean herself. "Mine went further," she said.

"Good for you."

Obviously he had lost all competitiveness, too. Ann tried to pressure him to start sharing what was bothering him so much.

"I see you don't care about winning anymore."

"Nobody really wins in the end. Rock throwing is pretty high up on the trivial list."

"Maybe so. But there are things that aren't."

Gray smiled grimly. "Yeah. That's what I thought about racing. Look where that got me."

"You're not dead, Gray. You… you'll find something else to do. Dad wanted you to do more work at the ranch, anyways. He's getting older. It's getting hard for him to run both the shop and take care of the animals."

"Why does it matter? We barely make enough money to provide for ourselves."

"That goes for something."

"Why? Why is staying alive a good reason to keep living?"

"It's more than that. Family. Friends-"

"Who will also die. There is nothing that you can do that nature will not undo someday."

Ann pursed her lips. "Maybe you should go to the chapel next Sunday. Maybe Pastor Brown can answer some of your concern-"

Gray nearly stood up in agitation. "The chapel! Please, Ann, you haven't been there yourself in who knows how long!"

"Well," she replied, "I'm satisfied with my life. I don't need to go there to find meaning. But I understand that there are people that do. Maybe it could help you out."

"What has religion ever done that is any good? Think about it. It just gives people a reason to do something crazy."

Ann rolled her eyes. "You know? Do you just want me to leave?"

"Yes."

Gray's sister stood up and rubbed her hands on her pants to get some of the sand off.

"Alright. I'll leave you alone."

Did he feel any better after he left? Not even the slightest.


	6. Chapter 6- The Underground

**Chapter Six- The Underground**

Instead of trying to walk, Gray further confined himself to his bed. He just wanted to be left alone, but people kept coming to check up on him. He wanted to rest, but the light continued to pour in through the windows. He tried covering them up with whatever he could use and began to sleep under the bed. The floor wasn't comfortable, but he liked the feeling of being in an enclosed space, where nothing out of the ordinary could happen.

Gray's mind only continued to stew. People began to catch on that he wasn't interested in company and consequently stopped coming to visit. The only person who continued to come, other than his family, was the insistent Popuri. She came every other day for a couple of hours, always reading a book in the corner. It was if she was waiting for Gray to finally say something. He never did, but it didn't seem to discourage her.

Gray began to lose track of the days. He estimated the time since the accident as best as he could- one week, two weeks, but he was increasingly finding himself not caring.

This period, in fact, last for two weeks and six days. Its end came abruptly. On this last night, Gray stirred from a light sleep that he had passed the majority of the day in. The sun had just set in the horizon and the sky was beginning to darken.

The young man's mind was by this point too exhausted to continue pondering deep thoughts. He had simply had enough. With surprising resolution, he dragged himself out of his dark sanctuary and grabbed a cane that he had recently been given to replace the barely used crutches. He then hobbled out into the fresh air for the first time in weeks. He took a deep breath, as if there was some lingering hope that it would bring him peace. Apparently unhappy with the results, Gray shook his head and made his way over to the barn. He had difficulty opening the doors with only one arm, and only accomplished the task with a good deal of pain. Once inside, he looked up to the rafters bathed in twilight above him. He nodded in satisfaction and walked to the far back wall of the barn where equipment was kept, dodging livestock along the way. Work must have been completed for the day, as the animals had already been brought back in, making it the perfect time to act without interruption. Gray reached for some rope that hung on a hook. After examining it, he started moving towards a ladder that leaned against the wall. He tried lifting it, but found himself having difficulty. Again and again he tried to lift it between short rests. Eventually, though, he yelled and pushed the ladder over in frustration, causing it to crash into one of the stalls, sending a young colt running in the other direction in fright.

Gray leaned against the wall and slowly allowed himself to sink into a sitting position. Why did he give up? It wasn't because he didn't think he could move the ladder, nor was it out of fear of what would come. What he had experienced was a momentary flash of pondering what would happen if he were gone. Would people be sad? Most would probably feel guilty about not being sad, but that was about it. But his mind went to three people- Ann, Popuri, and the old farmer. Ann, as annoying as she could be, was obviously invested in making sure Gray turned things around. Popuri had so consistently waited for Gray to acknowledge her- would her efforts go for nothing? And then there was old Pete; for whatever reason, Gray felt especially bad for turning him away. It would feel like a disservice to not apologize to him.

All it took was a second for him to throw the ladder onto its side. Even if he wanted to change his mind, it was simply too late. He would never be able to lift it back up in his condition.

Gray ran a hand through his hair. He didn't even think to consider whether he would still be willing to do it, as the option was no longer on the table. He probably would have broken down in tears right there had he not heard someone begin to slide the barn door open. As quickly as he could, he flung the rope across the barn, hoping that no one would even consider that Gray could have touched it. Once he had accomplished this, he began to stand up.

He was just putting his weight on his cane again when Ann stuck her head inside.

"Gray, what in the world made that noise? Was that you? … What are you doing in here, anyways?"

Gray shrugged as he started walking towards her. "Just thought I'd check up on the animals. … Just getting out of the house, you know? I accidentally bumped into this ladder while I was making a round around the stalls."

To his surprise, Ann actually chuckled a little, probably out of relief. It made Gray feel better.

"Well, there was no need to check up on them before you scared them half to death! Really though, I'm glad to see you out, but you don't need to worry about any work. Just… go out and have fun!"

Gray smirked to himself. "Fun?"

"… Yeah, I'd suggest you avoid the bar for a while. But there are other things you can do when you're hurt! I can see if Greg will let you borrow a fishing ro-."

"Fishing? Really? It doesn't get much more boring than that. Will you be going with me?"

By this time, Ann had repositioned the ladder and the two were walking back towards the house.

"I… Umm… I'm sure I can find someone who would like to go with you."

"That's what I tho-."

"Hey, I'm not the one who has nothing else to do! I've got work!"

"And when do I get to work again?"

"When dad says you are ready, I guess. Which isn't yet."

"I don't think he'll ever think I'm ready."

Ann pursed her lips and looked down. "He'll come around. … Listen, I'm planning to go hang out with the girls in town, so I'm gonna have to leave you. But I can't tell you how happy I am to see you out and talking again."

"Yeah."

Ann waited a moment waiting for a better answer before finally waving goodbye. Gray sighed as he returned to his room.

Somehow he knew that there was no turning back now.

When he entered, Gray squinted as he struggled to see around the darkened room in which he had spent weeks rolling in misery. He mumbled expletives as he reached to the windows and pulled down the barricades he had set up against the light. It stung his eyes at first, but he knew it did the room an improvement. After that he took a minute to lie down and remove the blankets and pillows from under his bed.

Gray considering going out again for a walk but found himself lacking the energy. To compensate, he pushed the window open, letting in the air as well as the light.

Again Gray could hear the birds chirping. He didn't necessarily like it, but at least it broke the silence.


	7. Chapter 7- The Hill

**Chapter Seven- The Hill**

"I can't believe I actually agreed to this…" Gray mumbled to himself, hoping Greg couldn't hear him over the hum of the creek bed.

The two had been there on the bank for nearly two hours. During that time, the old fisherman had pulled out five solid trouts; Gray had caught nothing other than a fly that had landed in his ear. Greg's enthusiasm only made it all the worse.

"You know, Gray, when I was your age, I'd be out here fly fishing and probably bringing in double what I am today! You don't come out here often, do you?"

"Nope."

"It's a shame, really! It seems to be a trend with the young ones nowadays. I see that Jeff out here every once in a while, and he sometimes brings along sweet Elli, but that's about it. I guess I don't really know many of the other youths around that well."

"Maybe it'd help if you lived in town rather than in that dingy tent."

Greg appeared to have missed Gray's insulting tone. "I don't think I could live in the town. I prefer the fresh mountain air… can you feel it? It really fills up you, if you let it. I think others would understand if they came out here more."

Greg probably continued talking, but Gray found himself nodding off. It wasn't until Greg shouted, "Pete!" that Gray was jolted awake. Gray turned to see the old man gingerly step down the short hill to the creek. He laid an arm on Gray's shoulder and pointed out onto the water.

"It looks like you caught one while you were asleep!"

"Really?" Gray said with noticeable curiosity as he turned to see.

Both of the other men cracked up laughing. "No," Pete finally said.

"You two must getting really old if you think that's funny," Gray retorted deadpan.

"Oh, alright," Pete answered, "I'm actually here to cheer you up." He extended his other hand to Gray, in which Pete was holding a bottle. "I thought you might like to have a beer."

Gray took it from him and examined it. Pete had already taken the cap off for him. "Ann would kill me if she saw me drinking this..." Gray bemused to himself, but he took a sip anyways.

To his surprise, the drink did not taste of alcohol. "What the… is this root beer?"

The old men broke out cackling again. "I said beer… I never specified that it wasn't root beer!"

Gray turned the bottle over and dumped its contents into the dirt. He then handed the bottle back to Pete.

The two continued to laugh, but Gray couldn't help but feel that he had hurt Pete's feelings with his stiff response. He finally said, "Good one." It probably sounded sarcastic, though.

Gray knew that Pete was just trying to get him laughing again, which both annoyed Gray and gave him a kind of appreciation for the old farmer.

"I'm sorry to say I don't have anything else to give you. But if you have the time, Gray, stop by my farm. There's something I want to talk with you about. Anyways, I guess I'll be seeing you both later."

Greg waved goodbye as Pete made his way back up the embankment. Gray looked into the water. With little warning, he turned and said, "I'll be there tomorrow." Pete stopped for a moment to turn and smile before proceeding on.

Gray suffered Greg and the fishing for another hour before he finally had enough. Annoyed that he had failed to catch a single fish, he nearly threw the rod back at Greg.

"Will you come out again?"

"Probably not."

Greg said goodbye as Gray was leaving, but he either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him.

Gray did in fact have something on his mind. He was going to have his chance to show his appreciation to Pete for his attitude when Gray was recovering; there was someone else he wanted to talk to, though.

It was the first time Gray had gone into the village since the accident. Part of him expected people to gather around and watch the curiosity, but no one appeared to be outside other than the elderly Ellen, who was too busy rocking in her chair outside the café while gazing at the clouds to notice him. Gray didn't have to go far, as his destination was just across the street from the café.

Gray knocked before entering the flower shop. Popuri's mother Lillia looked up in surprise from behind the counter.

"Gray! I can't remember the last time you've stopped by for a visit! How are you feeling?"

"Better."

Gray was preparing to ask where Popuri was, but there was no longer a need as Popuri swung open the door to her room and stuck her head out.

"Hey! Whatcha doing here, Gray?" Popuri energetically questioned. She looked as surprised as her mother.

The young man was stunned. Gray tried to answer, but for some reason he couldn't find the right words. He cursed himself in his mind. He had prepared something to say, but it felt so wrong on the spot. For one, it was uncomfortable that Lillia was just across the room, listening to what would happen. But more importantly, it wasn't the same Popuri that he wanted to thank for coming. In his suffering and silent contemplation, he had built up an image of who Popuri was in his head. Once seeing her actually speak again, he remembered that she was still the loud, childish girl from before.

Gray quickly turned around and left the way he came without heeding to the women's pleas for him to stop. He immediately returned to his house and laid down on his bed. He thought it best to take a short nap before dinnertime. He tossed around in his bed before a few minutes before realizing why he wasn't able to go to sleep- it was too bright. Gray stood back up and recovered the windows. He laid back down; after another minute, though, he reached over to his nightstand and forcefully shoved his cane onto the floor. It landed with a thud. Gray wasn't going to be able to sleep, as his mind was far too occupied with different streams of thought. Though these thoughts had different starting premises, they all ended with the same conclusion- Gray telling himself that he was an absolute fool.


	8. Chapter 8- Medicine

**Chapter Eight- Medicine**

Gray woke up the next morning early enough to join Doug and Ann for breakfast at the café. He had entirely forgotten about the routine until he heard their voices outside moving towards town. No one in the family could cook very well, so the family used to go there together nearly every morning for food.

Realizing where they were going, Gray hobbled over to his displaced cane before opening the door and shouting to them to wait for him. The two watched as he approached, still dressed in the same clothes he had worn the day before.

"You're coming?" Doug asked quietly.

"Obviously."

"You look like a wreck," Ann commented.

"Thank you."

Gray was ready for routine again, but there was obvious discomfort shared by all three that made normal conversation impossible. Nothing was said until they arrived at the café and took a seat at a table. Jeff came to serve them. He bowed slightly when he saw Gray.

"It's good to see you here again. Is there anything I can get you?"

"A pancake. Make it a big one. And a glass of milk."

"Sounds good. And I'll assume you two will have the usual?"

Ann and Doug both nodded.

"Well, I'll have Elli get to it then. Thanks."

After Jeff left for the kitchen, the threat of silence again loomed. However, the acceptance of this inevitability between Doug and Gray was challenged by Ann, who unexpectedly spoke up.

"So," she began. "What's everybody doing today?"

"Running the shop," answered Doug. "And you'll be taking care of the animals all by yourself since you have no one to help you."

The obvious jab at Gray did not go unnoticed. Gray only shot his father a dirty look.

"Hmm. How 'bout you, Gray?"

"I'm meeting someone."

"A counselor?" Doug scoffed. Ann looked at her father in disapproval, but neither of the others noticed.

"That old farmer down the road."

"Pete? What would he want you for?"

Gray shrugged. "Don't know."

"Well," Doug said more calmly, "If he wants you to do something, you'll have to do it yourself. Me and Ann are too busy to worry about it."

The surprise that Gray was to meet with Pete had taken the passion out of the exchange, but the bitterness remained, effectively killing the conversation. Not even Ann had the courage to pick it back up.

Once the food arrived, the three ate in absolute silence. Gray bolted his pancake and milk as fast as he could. He was still chewing his last bite when he pushed his plate forward and chair back.

"See ya," he told them on the way out only to fulfill some kind of social obligation.

Gray had planned on stopping to see Pete later as he wasn't certain if the old man would be awake yet, but it was a good excuse to leave. He nodded slightly to Ann as he walked out.

Thankfully, Pete appeared to have been awake for some time when he answered the door. He smiled slightly.

"It's good to see you. Come on in."

Gray studied the house as he walked in.

"Nice place."

Gray's sarcasm was obvious. Though it had been recently cleaned, the one room house was sparsely furnished, much like the house Gray had spent the last month in. The only belongings in the room of any quality were the many aging but beautiful books on the bookshelf in the corner.

"Please, Gray, take a seat at the table."

Pete sat down across from him.

"So," Gray started, "Why am I here?"

"That's a difficult question. Why don't you tell me?"

Gray frowned. "Let's not play this. If you actually don't remember, then I'm guessing you were going to talk to me about your Alzheimer's."

The old man laughed heartily. "No, it's not Alzheimer's. That being said, I've had angina my whole life. I'm not really sure how much longer I can go before it finally gets the better of me." Both his voice and his expression, though, were remarkably steady, as if he were reading hard facts off of a note card.

Gray's eyes widened. "... Chest pain is serious matter. Why are you telling me this? Have you told anyone else?"

Pete looked upwards, perhaps towards Heaven, and explained softly. "… No, I've never told anyone. I guess I couldn't live with worrying others. Or maybe I didn't want to face the truth. Life would never be same; nothing they'd say could be a positive. Maybe nothing could even be done to fix it. If something could be done, it might have left me physically unable to provide for my family. I don't know. I guess I didn't want to lose hope."

"Hope?"

Pete stretched his arms out on the table, his voice turning a bit warmer, more human. "You see, Gray… my wife… oh, do I miss her. It's been far too long. People told me before we were married that it would never work… that our personalities were too different, that our backgrounds were too different. But I loved her, and she loved me. It just took her some time to realize that she should choose who she wanted, not whoever people expected her to.

"Our time was too short though. She'd been battling her health for as long as I had known her. Things took for the worse shortly after our son was born. At… at the end, it was clear that she wasn't going to make it… the hopelessness in her eyes… I just couldn't live with making myself and others watch me slowly slip away."

Gray bit his tongue. "I'm… I'm sorry, sir."

"Me too. But I can't ignore my health any longer. It's not just the pain. I've learned to live with that. My mind… it still feels young, at least most of the time. But I can feel my body resisting. I just can't do what I could before. The condition of my farmland needs no introduction. But I still have the animals that need to be taken care of. That's what I need your help with. I want you to look after them. I'm looking to have as many of them sold off as I can. Those that you can't find a home for by the time I die will go to your ranch."

"How will you take care of yourself without the livestock?"

"I'll use what I need from what you make by selling the animals. The rest will go to my family."

"And what of the farm? What happens to it once you die?"

Pete sighed. "It too goes to my family. But I don't think they'll miss the animals. My son took after his grandparents. He has work in the city, and I don't see him giving it up. My grandson always had a passion for this place, but he is still young and naïve... This place will probably die with me."

Gray's immediate thought was how happy his father would be with the competition gone, but he couldn't help but feel bad himself that ranch would go without an owner.

"However," Pete proceeded, "If my family does decide to take the farm, I trust you'll help them out in the same way you helped me."

"I will."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"Good. I'll repay you for helping me, of course."

Gray smiled to himself. He had never actually agreed to help him- he had only promised to aid Pete's family should they take the farm. But Pete knew he would help.

"Don't bother. Consider it a favor," Gray told the aging man.

Pete smiled. "Then I'll be seeing you again soon. You can stop by tomorrow whenever works best. I'll be here."

Gray shook his hand before standing up. Just before walking out the door, though, he stopped.

"Sir, you never answered why you told me everything that you did? And if you wanted animals sold, why didn't you go to my father?"

"… Because I wasn't able to save her. But I saw someone else without hope."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I hope you liked the first installment! Unlike most stories, I put this one out without too many edits as I don't know when I'll get another good chance. I fully expect some mistakes, so please help me out! Thank you for reading, and stay tuned!


	9. Chapter 9- Light

**Author's Notes: **A _long_ interval between updates, I know. It wasn't unexpected, though, as I got lost in the semester. I did promise I would update, so here it is. Maybe I'll get another chapter in within the next couple of weeks, but I also have a couple other pieces I'm working on. If I don't before then, it could be another long wait. Hopefully updates will come in more regularly come the summer.

Thanks to those who have reviewed this story so far! I greatly appreciate it. And again, sorry about the burden of long waits- trust me when I say I plan on finishing, though.

* * *

**Chapter Nine- Light**

"Tell me you aren't going to run off this time," Doug grunted as he took a seat.

Gray's family was once again eating together, this time for dinner at the bar. Ann had also invited cousin Rick to join them. It was a wise move, as the presence of another person would help keep matters from getting too hostile.

"I told you, I had to meet someone," Gray responded calmly as he took the side to Doug's right.

"And did that go well?" Ann asked.

Gray nodded. "Sure."

Rick was understandably lost with the conversation. "Wait, so what are we talking about?"

"Pete asked me to see about getting his animals sold off. I'll be keeping care of them in the meantime."

Ann and Doug looked at each other, coming to the same realization that Gray had come to earlier. They now had a monopoly over Flowerbud. Doug smiled.

"And did you agree to help?" he asked calmly.

"… I did. I'll need you to find buyers, but I'll take care of the livestock."

It was Rick who reminded them of the situational realities. "But how is Gray going to do all this in his condition?"

Gray had actually had so much on his mind that he hadn't thought of that issue. "… I'll ask Pete tomorrow when I go to see him."

"Well, whatever the case, it'll give you something to do," Ann commented with a smile. Something in her appearance struck Gray as relaxed- something he hadn't seen since the accident.

"I totally agree," Rick added. "Work is always good for the spirit!"

Ann frowned. "Is that why your shop is never open?"

Rick rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… sorry about that. While I wouldn't want you telling anyone, it's not like I have anything in there worth buying right now. I'm working on the next big thing, though! It's a secret!"

Between Doug's delight about Pete's exit from the business and the opportunity for the other three to make fun of Rick, the dinner went far better than their breakfast had. Gray didn't really care about "getting back in the world" again, but one of his few priorities was to at least be on good terms with his family. He knew that he bore at least some of the blame for the strains by the way he acted after the accident.

His other major priority was the task that Pete had given to him. Gray went to bed immediately after returning from dinner so he could be sure to get enough energy for the next day.

Gray woke up at just a few minutes past eight. Even with a long night of sleep, Gray still felt exhausted. It occurred to him that his body was not prepared for the sudden return to activity that he had undergone in the previous two days.

Gray felt like he had used up whatever energy he had left just changing clothes. Even so, he managed to hobble to Pete's ranch and knock on his door.

Pete opened the door a couple of seconds later. The smile on his face made Gray sigh.

"You'd think I'm the old one," Gray mumbled under his breath.

"Come on in, Gray. Take a seat. I'm guessing you haven't had breakfast? I have a couple extra balls of onigiri you can have."

"I'll pass."

"Sure? I'm having some."

Gray sat at the table and watched Pete eat.

"Pete, how am I supposed to do farm work when I've only got one leg? Try lifting a bag of fodder."

The old man looked up from his food. "We'll do it together."

"… What?"

"You lift one side, I lift the other. We might not be able to do it separate easily, but together I don't see why it would be a problem."

Gray smirked. It sounded like a stupid idea, but he'd give it a try for laughs.

Pete must have taken it as a cue to start. He stood up and waved for Gray to follow after quickly finishing his last few bites.

"Laugh all you want, but we'll make it work. I'll show you the way to the barn."

Pete's barn had already begun to match the dilapidated state of the farmland. Many boards were rotting, while others were simply falling apart. The nails, bolts, and nuts sustaining the roof ought to have been long replaced. Even the farming equipment looked either rusty or worn down. Gray shook his head as he walked through the sad structure. Back in the day, it was probably an impressive building. Gray certainly didn't need a reminder about how time never fails to take things away.

"You should have seen it back in the day," Pete commented, reading Gray's thoughts. "Me and my wife built this together."

"Really?"

Pete smiled. "No. I don't know two things about carpentry. The most extensive renovation I ever did to the place was putting a fresh coat of paint on the house one time. Here, you grab that end of the bag."

With slight maneuvering, Gray was able to grab one end with his open arm without too much difficulty.

"Are you ready, son?"

"Yeah."

On a count of three, the two tugged hard, successfully lifting the bag off the ground.

"Now what?" Gray grunted.

"Start with the stall just behind you and we'll work clockwise."

Work did not start well. Walking was awkward, as the two had troubles stepping together in unison. Gray limped with every stride, and he found himself unable to lift half the full weight. Pete's face showed the strain he was under to carry the extra burden.

Though the going wasn't easy, the two did eventually pull together a kind of rhythm. The rest of the chores that had to be taken care of once the animals were fed were quite a bit easier. Pete and Gray checked each of the animals' health together before breaking off and doing individual jobs. This included brushing the dirtier animals, milking the cows, and crating eggs from the coop. The chickens there also had to be fed, but their feedbags were notably lighter than those for the heavier livestock. Once they were taken care of, both Pete and Gray moved on to more general cleaning of the spaces. Gray was reaching for a pitchfork to scoop up stray hay when Pete put a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll probably need both hands for that. Don't worry, I'll take care of it later on my own. You've done good work today. You'll be back tomorrow, won't you?"

Gray handed him the pitchfork. "Yeah. See ya."

He began to walk towards the barn door when Pete called to him.

"You know, if you don't have any dinner plans, I'd love for you to come over. Six o'clock."

Gray nodded his head but kept on walking without turning around.

It was already three o'clock when Gray stepped out of the barn. The day had left him quite sore, so he returned to his room and stretched out on his bed. Gray knew that he would likely use most of the energy he had working at Pete's, so he had prepared to find something more relaxing to do in his free time. The day before, he had gone into town just long enough to grab a book from the library. The librarian, Maria, was quite flustered at his sudden reappearance, which greatly amused Gray, who tried to act as if visiting the library was a normal occurrence.

Gray smirked while reaching for his book as he thought of the look of surprise on her face. Though he tried reading the first chapter, he found himself too distracted thinking about dinner to focus. Gray had two simple options- eat with his family or eat with Pete. Neither choice seemed that appealing to him. If he ate with his family, they would constantly pressure him into asking questions as to what he had done at the ranch. If he ate with Pete, he would have to deal with Pete going down deep conversations about the meaning of life, or something like that. Gray eventually decided that a mildly intelligent conversation with Pete would beat out mindless small talk. Not to mention, Doug's attitude about Pete's retirement rubbed Gray the wrong way the more he thought of it.

Once he had finally made a decision, Gray was able to read in peace before he determined to clean himself off before going to dinner. The small bathroom attached to the guesthouse only held a toilet, a cheap sink, and a weak faucet that was supposed to act as a shower. Gray looked in just long enough to shake his head before closing the door again. He wanted to look nice. It was time to use his own bathroom again.

Gray grabbed his cane and made the short walk back to the shop. Doug's eyebrows raised when he saw his son walk in.

"How was your day?"

"Fine. I'm taking a shower," Gray muttered as he passed by. As much as Gray wanted his relationship with his father to improve, Doug was not making it easy.

Gray had managed to avoid going into his room during the entirety of his recovery, as everything he needed was provided for him. He returned to find his room far tidier than when he had left it. Ann had obviously cleaned it so it would be ready for him when he was for it. He didn't realize how much he had missed a more comfortable bed, better selection of clothes from his dresser, and a genuinely better living environment.

He didn't stay long though, as he immediately passed into the bathroom. Gray gawked at the image. He had not used a mirror better than his reflection off the creek since the accident. He knew he had grown a beard, but he had no idea just how inconsistent and bristly it was. Gray's face had both paled and lost weight.

The only issue he could immediately fix was shaving the gross beard, which he quickly set to. Realizing that he had lost valuable time in doing so, Gray wasted little time in the shower. After getting dressed, Gray turned to the mirror one last time. The final result was a worthwhile improvement, but he still wasn't satisfied with his appearance. He walked to his closet and pulled out a hat, which he hoped could help obscure some of his features.

Gray threw the door open to Pete's house upon arrival without knocking. To his surprise, the old man wasn't there. Pete was never late. Gray looked around the barn and the coop before returning to the house and paced around the room. He was examining a photo of Pete with his grandson on the nightstand when he heard voices approaching. Confused as to why there was more than one person, Gray peered outside.

Pete had just strolled through the gate in the fence that demarcated his property. He had his arm wrapped around Elli's grandmother Ellen, obviously helping her walk along. The two of them were laughing about something.

Gray didn't know that the two were such close friends, but it didn't come as a surprise since they were two of the oldest people in Flowerbud. He wished that Pete would have warned him that he was having someone else over, though.

Gray was shaken out of his thoughts by Ellen calling out his name.

"Pete mentioned you might be here," she continued as she hobbled along. "It's good to see you."

It was rather annoying to Gray how the two old people spoke as if they were best friends with him, even though he had hardly spoken to the two his entire life. Even so, Gray held the door open for the two as they entered.

"Where's the food?" he grumbled as the two took a seat at the table. There wasn't a kitchen for cooking, and nothing was inside before the two arrived.

"Right here!" Ellen said, as she pulled out a small woven basket. Gray hadn't noticed it when they walked up.

Gray nodded and took a seat next to Pete at the table.

"What is it?"

"Some peanut butter sandwiches and fruit! I made it myself."

Peanut butter sandwiches? "… You own a bakery shop, right?"

Both Ellen and Pete laughed at the disappointment on his face. Pete answered for her.

"Ellen's family owns the bakery, but she grew up running an animal store, before I moved in or your farm was even built yet. Ellen's not a cook herself."

"So could you just not have bought something that Jeff or Elli made, then?"

"But that would make it impersonal," Ellen explained, "If we wanted to do that, we should have just ate there."

Gray shrugged. "Whatever," he said as he reached for a sandwich. Pete and Ellen followed suit.

Ellen opened the official dinner conversation. "So, I hear that you are going to be helping Pete out on the ranch."

"Right."

"And how long is this to go on?"

"'Till all the animals are sold off," Gray muttered.

Ellen looked to Pete.

"… All of them?"

"That's right," he answered.

"So, are you to sell the farm?"

"I won't sell it, but I reckon my son will probably do so once I'm gone."

"Well," Ellen said, "if I ever thought I'd live to see the day when neither of us are working a ranch..." Ellen turned to Gray. "Now you make sure to stay with it, because I better not live to see the day when there isn't anyone at all operating a ranch in Flowerbud."

"I'll keep it in mind," Gray said between bites.

As Gray was obviously more interested in eating than talking, Ellen and Pete turned to each other, starting to converse as if Gray was not even there. He didn't mind.

"So, Pete, you won't believe what I found just the other day!"

"Yes, what's that?"

"Well, I was looking through our storage closet when I found a box in the far corner. And guess what it had? Well, it was all of the utensils from the old café! Pots, pans, plates, even an old serving tray that Katie had marked her name on the bottom of."

The old café had shut down before Gray's time, but he did remember Katie, who was still working at the new bakery up until she had passed away two years back. Even when she was old, she was still curious and energetic- not so unlike Ellen and Pete. Perhaps it was a common characteristic of their generation in the Flowerbud.

Ellen grimaced as she looked at one of her sandwiches. "Speaking of Katie, this tastes like it could have been made by her. Does this bread taste at all stale to you?"

Pete shook his head as he continued eating. "My taste buds aren't what they used to be, El. Just about everything tastes the same nowadays."

Good thing Gray didn't touch any of the onigiri for breakfast. It could have been two years old and no one would have known the difference until someone other than Pete took a bite.

Gray's musings were interrupted when he realized Ellen had turned to him.

"Well, what do you think?"

"It tastes like the bland sandwich that it is. They're all the same to me."

"Maybe it's age that has made your taste buds oversensitive," Pete added.

Ellen crossed her arms in mock disapproval. "You two are incorrigible... I guess age does get to us in different ways, though."

Pete nodded glumly. "The only clear thing is that it does get to us in some way." Abruptly, Pete turned to Gray more upbeat."What are people your age like, Gray?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, what words would you use to describe your community of friends?"

"I spend time with Zack and Rick. We're cool, I guess."

"Do the people your age in the village not do things together?"

"The girls do sometimes, but that's about it. We have jobs, you know. There's no time for friends."

Ellen decided to join in the conversation at that point. "Gray, you're going to be around these people for the rest of your life. The direction that this village is going to take is eventually going to be decided by you and your friends. And it's only going to work if you are all in it together."

"And what would you have me do?"

"Make time for people," Pete suggested. "There are people in this village that I know you've hardly spoken two words to. I know I haven't done much better as of late, but that's because most of my friends are already gone, and I'm too old and tired to go out again. Think about all the effort that has gone in to making all the festivals that you go to every year. They didn't just happen. They were the result of many years of meaningful relationships."

"So you would have me try replicating the community that your friends had? Sorry, but it's not in my personality."

Ellen shook her head. "No. I don't want you to build our community. I want all of you to build your community."

Gray shrugged. "Sure, whatever. I'll think about it... I'm going to finish my meal now."

Gray didn't like responding to them, but he did find their conversations fascinating. After that, the two left Gray alone as they continued discussing both what was going on in their lives as well as reminiscing on the past. It was clear that they were the product of a different age, a gone age quickly passing away. Could Gray's generation be so easily classified, as it was to describe Ellen and Pete's? It certainly couldn't, as there was no collective community. It was understandable why- Harris, the mailman, and Kai, who worked at the vineyard, were outsiders there only for employment, while the personalities of others like Karen and Popuri didn't mesh well enough together to be good friends. Would it be possible to build such a community? Possibly, but Gray didn't care enough to put in the effort to make it happen. Ellen and Pete would have been better off sharing their counseling to his sister.

Sometime shortly after the food was finished, Gray excused himself and reaffirmed that he would be back to work the next day. Rather than returning home, he turned towards the countryside at the foot of the mountains where he had gone fishing with Greg. Though Gray loved the fresh air, the walk was primarily for exercise. The work he had done that day had thoroughly exhausted him, and it was only going to be the first of many.


	10. Chapter 10- The Heart

**Author's Notes:** Yay for relatively quick update! Maaaybe I'll get one more chapter in before my expected long break. Who knows, though? I don't really know how much time I'll have to work these next few months; hopefully more than the last! Please enjoy the chapter, and as always, reviews are encouraged! Please point out any spelling/grammar mistakes, as the site's spell checker is... err... AWOL. For this reason, don't be surprised if I make some noticeable changes/additions in the future on this chapter!

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**Chapter Ten- The Heart**

Gray had good reason to be concerned about his ability to work. The first week at Pete's ranch became harder rather than easier as his leg only tightened up more and more each day. One night, Gray was nearly in tears after having difficulty even walking home. Ann insisted that he immediately tell Pete that he would no longer be able to help; she even suggested that she could take his place. Doug actually came to Gray's side by arguing that Ann wouldn't have time to manage both ranches and that someone had to help Pete (and added aside that he thought the work was good for Gray). Ann only reluctantly agreed when Doug encouraged Gray to exercise caution and even provided him with some good leg stretches to help with the soreness. Ann also made sure to have a wrapped towel full of ice ready for Gray after returning home each day.

Despite the pain, Gray never once seriously considered quitting. He too thought the work was beneficial to his state of mind. Gray had reoccupied his room, and his relationship with his family was being reestablished. While he would rather be still riding horses, helping Pete gave him an actual reason to justify his existence. Furthermore, the old man was undoubtedly growing on him, though Gray would deny it. Pete was always willing to discuss anything, and the topics he brought up himself both challenged and encouraged Gray. He was certainly different from anyone that Gray had ever spent much time with. Perhaps it was wisdom from age, or maybe it was just inherent to his personality.

After the first week, Gray's body slowly began to recover. First, his stamina began to improve, followed by regained arm strength. His leg recovery was slower, but time only continued to help. After three weeks, Gray was strong enough to limp around without using his cane.

Even after Gray stopped using his cane, the two continued to lift the fodder bags together. As Gray grew stronger, though, Pete became feebler. At first, Pete carried most of the weight while Gray simply kept him from letting it drop. However, in the following months, the distribution shifted until Pete was there for little more than keeping Gray company.

On average, Doug would come by once a month to announce he had a buyer for one or two of the animals; some gaps were larger, others smaller. But there was a fairly consistent pace, which gradually decreased the amount of work the pair had to do each day.

As the months piled on, the season shifted from summer to fall and fall to winter. Gray actually preferred the cold temperature, which he found to heighten his senses. On the other hand, Pete was less than excited about the change of weather. He would often complain about feeling sore and that he was never able to get warm. Pete often spoke of his desire to have all of the livestock sold off by the end of the season so he could enjoy the coming of spring in rest.

This goal would be met near the end of the year after the selling of two final chickens, which represented the last of Pete's animals, with the exception of his lone dog. Despite Gray's job officially being completed, he continued to visit Pete's ranch. Gray insisted to his family and the old man that he needed to go to clean up the barn and coop as well as take care of the farming equipment; primarily, though, he was doing so to continue having opportunities to talk to Pete. Gray had not put the advice of Pete and Ellen to connect more with his peers into practice outside of occasionally spending nights at the bar. It could even be said that Pete was the only person Gray could actually consider a friend. Gray would spend nearly every day at Pete's ranch, only staying home during heavy snowstorms and the few days afterwards to allow the thick snow to melt.

After one such storm, though, the temperature was high enough the following morning that the snow and ice was melting in abundant streams, allowing Gray to brave only mud on the road to Pete's. He spent the morning reorganizing the tools in the barn to his liking for the fifth time without much thought. By noon, though, Gray was beginning to wonder why Pete had not yet come to talk to him, especially after not having seen him in two days. Eventually, Gray couldn't restrain his curiosity. The likely explanation was that Pete had slept in late, a rare occasion that Gray never failed to make fun of him for.

Expecting such a scenario or some other that would allow Gray to tease him, Gray opened the always-unlocked door with a smirk painted on his face. To his surprise, though, Pete was on the bed but hunched up against it on the floor. One of his arms held the side of his head while the other was positioned over his chest; both were shaking.

Gray's smile was quickly replaced with deep concern, verging on terror. Gray slid down on the floor next to Pete, removing the hand on his head so the two could see each other.

"Pete! Pete! What's wrong?! … It's your heart, isn't it?"

The old man managed to turn his head slightly and nod.

"Alright… Umm… I'll go get help right now! Just give me a second to help you back up on your bed."

Pete dipped his head again and ever gently pushed off the ground to help Gray get him on the bed, demonstrating that he was not completely irresponsive. After he was back on, Gray only wasted a moment to look at Pete in a sort of dazed confusion before running towards town, where he could find the potion dealer's house.

The potion dealer nearly knocked over a whole shelf full of vials that he was arranging when a mud-caked Gray tossed his door open and told him to immediately go help Pete. The man calmly inquired Gray what Pete's symptoms were. After Gray babbled out everything he could, the potion dealer threw some of the vials into a leather satchel before opening the door to his grandchildren's room. After a brief exchange, Kent and Stu accompanied Gray and the potion dealer back to Pete's ranch. The man told the others to stay outside the farmhouse while he examined Pete alone. Gray wasn't sure why he wasn't allowed inside, but he waited while sitting on a doghouse without complaining.

Kent tried to brighten the gloom by starting a conversation, but it did little to cheer Gray up, who only responded in low mumbles. Gray did not look up from the ground until the door opened again.

"Alright, I need you to listen to this very carefully. Kent, I need you to go to Mayor Thomas's house. Have him contact Pete's family, and have them brought here as soon as is possible. Stu, would you kindly go to the church and bring Pastor Brown here for awhile?"

There was no need for the potion dealer to expand on Pete's condition; it was clear that his family was being called so they could be there at the end, and Pastor Brown was invited in case Pete had any unfinished business. Evidently, the potion was aware of this, as all he did was gently grab Gray's arm.

"I've given him some medicine that will help with the pain. He might have difficulty speaking, but you are welcome to go in and talk with him."

Gray nodded and the two went inside. The potion shop dealer grabbed a seat from the table and carried it to the corner of the room. He sat down and pulled a book out of his satchel to read in order to give Pete and Gray some privacy.

Gray took a seat by Pete's side on the bed. The old man was able to look up to him, but he said nothing.

"Look outside through the window there, Pete," he said through watery eyes. "The snow's melting, and I don't think it's coming back. You made it to spring… you really did."

Pete managed to form what looked to be a smile. "And now rest."

Gray sighed as he grabbed Pete's hand and shook it gently. "Your family is coming soon. You know… if they don't want the land, I'm going to do whatever I can to buy it. If my father won't take it, I might put a loan down on it myself. I… I want to see this place used, and I want it to be someone from here… from… from Flowerbud."

Pete's attempt at a smile was more successful this time. "I'd like that."

Pete was obviously having difficulty talking, so Gray sat with him in silence until Mayor Thomas arrived with Kent, huffing after what must have been a hard run. Or the mayor was just out of shape, since Kent looked perfectly fine.

The mayor looked around the room, unsure as to whom he should address. He eventually settled with the potion dealer.

"The grandson is on his way. He should be here within the hour. The son was in a meeting when I tried getting a hold of him, and consequently he didn't make the boat. He won't be able to get in until tomorrow."

Gray frowned when he heard the news. Pete probably wasn't going to last that long. The potion dealer must have been thinking the same thing as he raised his eyebrows with an expression that could only be described as somewhat judgmental. Gray couldn't blame him.

Stu and Pastor Brown were not far behind the other two newcomers. In the same way that the potion dealer had given Gray some privacy, Gray went outside after patting Pete's hand while the pastor crossed the room to the bed. The air outside wasn't too terribly chilly, but the wind was strong enough to discourage any of the others to follow, who all joined the potion dealer in the corner.

Instead of leaning on the rather uncomfortable doghouse again, Gray took a seat on the flatter shipping bin just next to it. The wood surface was radiating some heat, so Gray pulled himself all the way on it despite it still being damp from the melting snow.

Gray closed his eyes and took in the sounds. There was in fact only one sound audible- that of dripping water. The noise wasn't loud, but it was constant in its rate and purpose.

He raised an eyebrow, though, when he heard another sound akin to feet trampling through snow. Gray opened his eyes to find Pete's small dog preparing to hop up next to him.

"What the… no, pleas-."

Despite Gray's pleading, the dog hopped on top of the shipping bin and settled in next to Gray at an uncomfortably close distance.

"In the past six months, you haven't so much as once come to see me, and now we're best friends? I'm mean and scary, remember? I don't even know your name."

The dog responded by licking at Gray's fingers, who grunted but didn't pull his hand away.

"Is it because I'm a familiar face?" The dog whimpered in a tone that would break any heart not belonging to Gray, who was only slightly moved. "Yeah, I know it's sad for you. He'll be kicking the bucket soon enough. Maybe the grandson… Jack, or whatever his name is, will take you home with him. I know he probably won't be half the owner that the old oaf was, but it's better than trying to rough it out in the wild."

The dog began to lick again, this time causing Gray's hand to recoil.

"No, I'm not taking you with me, you idiot! You probably should have tried winning my affection a little earlier if that's what you want."

Gray's scolding would have continued had the door to the farmhouse not opened. Gray turned to see Kent and Stu leaving. Kent waved to him sadly while Stu only stared as the two passed by. Pastor Brown followed them just a few minutes later. Meanwhile, Gray and the dog had settled into a comfortable silence. Gray did not even realize that he had begun to slowly rub the dog's back.

The silence was broken again after a long interval, during which the dog had fallen asleep, by more steps in the snow, this time approaching the house. Gray turned to see a face that bore some degree of resemblance to someone he had met before. It could be none other than Jack.

The young man hardly ever looked up from the ground as he approached the house at a pace just short of a jog; consequently, he never saw Gray as he entered. Jack didn't even bother to close the door after entering, allowing Gray to listen in on what was going on inside.

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes… but not for much longer," quietly replied the potion dealer.

Gray spun around and followed Jack into the house at a distance, unable to resist the possibility of seeing the grandfather and grandson interact in what could be Pete's final hour. Gray would have continued walking as far as the bed had the mayor not stuck his arm out to stop him.

"Stay back here with us," he said under his breath. All four of the table's chairs were now in the corner, so Gray took a seat at one of the two vacant locations. Despite leaning forward and straining to hear the conversation, Gray could only make out some of what was said by Jack. If Pete was responding, none of it was loud enough to be audible from across the room.

"Hey, Grandpa… I have to say something… Dad isn't going to make… I know... Sorry…. I wish so, too… know what the farm means to… I do miss it, a lot…"

The conversation continued on for some time, perhaps upwards to an hour. The other three in the room were completely silent until the potion dealer whispered something to Thomas, who showed him the time on his watch.

"Wait, what did you say?" Jack spoke, this time louder. Jack leaned in closer as Pete presumably repeated what he had said.

"But… Grandpa… I don't understand… Grandpa?" Jack's expression changed as he shook his grandfather, and his voice grew even louder. "Grandpa! Are you there? Grandpa? No, no, ple-."

Gray bit his tongue, knowing what must have happened without actually being able to see it himself. The potion dealer scooted his chair loudly as he stood up, quickly bounding across the room to the bed. He pulled the sheets higher up before giving Jack a weak hug. Gray didn't see much more before Thomas tapped on his shoulder and motioned for him to join him outside, to which Gray obliged.

Gray ran his fingers along his nose as Thomas slowly shut the door. "I don't think we need to be in there right now," the mayor explained. "Come on, it's time to go home for now. Let your family know what happened. I'll take care of everyone else. I'll stop by later to inform you about what plans lie ahead."

Gray nodded and walked alongside the mayor towards town.

"You were the one who found him, yes? What do you think happened?"

Gray could only ask himself what an absurdly ignorant question it was. He was in no mood to talk about anything. How could he? Sure, some physical process had occurred that had caused Pete to die. But frankly, he didn't really care what it was. More pressing was that Pete was in fact gone. A better question would be asking how Gray was feeling and what the man had meant to him. He wouldn't answer it, of course, but it would at least be more appropriate. How could he answer it? The old man had done more for him than words could express. He had treated Gray as a friend, despite Gray having never made any friendly gesture towards him. Pete had given him a reason to keep living and a reason to keep thinking. Pete had become his only friend, and now he was gone. Gray couldn't quite answer either the question that Thomas had given or the one that he had created himself distinctly. The only words that came out tried to answer both.

"… He used it all up."

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**Author's Notes: **Didn't want to spoil the chapter's contents, so I added this at the end. This was obviously an inevitable plot point that I couldn't really get around. Maybe I made you a little sad. I don't know.

This chapter really marks the end of the first phase of the story. It was originally meant to be closer to an "intro" than a "phase", but it took longer than expected. Oh well. From what I can tell, the tone of many chapters have been pretty diverse so far. That will probably continue to occur, maybe in even greater degree, as we move on to the next part.

Thanks for reading (or scrolling to the end), and please review!


	11. Chapter 11- The Slide

**Author's Notes: **Surprise again! The semester hasn't gotten too busy yet, so I managed to put this together pretty quickly. Not too much happens in this chapter, but it does introduce some important plot points. I hope that's enough to carry you over until my next update, whenever it is!

Mnema\- Thanks for another wonderful review! I'm glad I've been of some assistance with you doing work on your own story! It means a lot to me. I don't know how much momentum I can keep, especially as my plot progression is quite a bit more open from here on out, but I have every intention of finishing it, one way or another!

As always, please read and review!

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**Chapter Eleven- The Slide**

"Gray, it looks fine," Ann asserted between bites.

"Just don't want to look disrespectful," Gray muttered in response. He was having a habit of constantly readjusting the tie around his neck, thinking it was either crooked or not tight enough. They were at the bakery for a late breakfast the morning after Pete had passed away. Ann and Doug were already nearly done with their meals, while Gray was taking his good time.

"Just finish your food quickly," Doug added. "We need to be leaving soon."

Gray listened and left his tie alone, but continued to argue while he cut a piece of French toast on his plate. "What's the hurry? It's a three-hour service, and the burial isn't until the end. Do we really need to stand around talking to people for all that time?"

His father frowned slightly, almost out of guilt. "Sorry, I must have forgot to mention it... Pete's son wanted the burial to be private. We can go visit for a couple hours, but only Pete's friends and family are to stay longer."

Gray's grip on his fork tightened. "And if we aren't invited, then who is?"

"People closer to his age. The head carpenter, the potion dealer, Saibara… I don't have the exact list, son."

Ann bit her lip, seeing the anger accumulating in Gray's body language. Seeing it, she calmly pronounced, "You should have been invited, too, Gray, considering how much time you spent with him. I can try going to talk with Jack to see if maybe you can go-"

Gray dropped his silverware onto his plate. "No! The last thing I want you to do is go talk with Jack! That would be giving the authority to him. What I want is someone from here, who actually bothered to spend time with Pete, to be making these kinds of decisions… not a couple idiots only family to him by blood."

Everyone was silent after that- even Jeff, who looked up from his work behind the counter at Gray's outburst. Jeff and Ann's silence was out of surprise; Doug, though, just couldn't find a way to contradict Gray's logic. "To be honest, he didn't really spend much time with any of those people," he finally admitted off-hand.

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Gray enjoyed visitation about as much as he thought he would- not at all. Many people were present, but it struck him as more of a purposeless social gathering than any actual kind of memorial. Rather than dealing with the people, Gray took a seat further away, somewhat hidden in a corner behind the square's fountain. No one bothered to come speak to him. Either they didn't care or they didn't even consider if Gray was upset. While both options may have had some veracity, Gray leaned towards the first. Though he wasn't involved in any, the conversations he could hear from his perch had nothing to do with Pete's life or death.

"Everything is going on over there, you know," sang a high voice that Gray hadn't heard in a while. He lifted his chin from his chest to watch Popuri take a seat next to him, but he kept his arms crossed.

"Your point?"

"Well, you know... do you not want to console anyone who knew the man well?"

"Is that what's going on? I was the person close to him."

Popuri squinted her eyes in thought. "I remember that you were doing some work for Pete for awhile, now that I think of it."

"Your memory is correct."

"… I didn't think much of it, as I didn't know you'd actually get to talk to him that often. I'm sorry Gray."

Popuri reached towards him, perhaps to hold his hand, but Gray jumped up and took a step away to dodge her. There was an uncomfortable silence as Popuri nodded and began to walk back towards the main group.

"Thanks," Gray said loudly, causing Popuri to pause for a moment and look back. It was the last of their conversation. Gray didn't join the others, but rather left the square entirely to find some more privacy. For this occasion, his place of choice was the mountain. The only person he had to dodge on the way there was Greg, who was tending a fire at the base of the path up the mountain face.

It was not actually this trail that Gray was taking. The mountain was cut in half by a gorge that the creek ran through. A bridge had once crossed it, but it had collapsed several years prior. The other side of the mountain led to the higher peak, but without the upper bridge there was no road accessible to it. The only way up was to cross the bridge over the creek at ground level and then climb up a single tree with strong branches that was tall enough to allow a person to get over the initial cliff. After hopping from the tree to the top of the cliff, the other half of the trail could then be reached. This was the method that Gray employed to start his hike up the mountain, ignoring the fact that he was wearing nice clothing.

The main peak was in fact his intended destination. As the trail created a clearing in the trees leading up the mountainside, a person sitting at top would have an open view over Flowerbud. If Jack wouldn't allow Gray to go to Pete's funeral, this was the next best view he could get without being intrusive. While it would be fair to make Jack angry by showing up anyways, doing so would interrupt the service and therefore be disrespectful to Pete.

Gray took a seat on a small ledge on the empty peak. He didn't have to wait long to see a few figures moving from the square over to the small cemetery on the west side of town. Gray couldn't make out any faces from the distance, but he could tell that they were gathered in a circle. They stood in this position for quite some time, forcing Gray to hypothesize for himself what was being said.

The group eventually broke apart and its members went in their own directions. Gray focused on two in particular, who left towards Pete's ranch. One was obviously Jack, and the other must have been Pete's son, who was supposed to arrive sometime that day.

Gray eventually lost interest in these two, and instead turned his gaze back to town, where people were beginning to return to their normal lives. With the exception of one just outside the bakery who he assumed was Ellen in her rocking chair, the people he watched there were in constant motion. All faceless outlines constantly going about their business this way and that way. They must have had their reasons for doing the things that they were doing, but from the top of the mountain their intentions seemed rather insignificant. No matter what path they took, it would inevitably lead to the west side of town towards a plot of dirt.

Gray took a step down so he could rest his back against the ledge consisting of rock and dirt. He dropped his head back and closed his eyes, picturing out his own future across the landscape. Down the mountain to the ranch, from the ranch to the bakery for breakfast, back to the ranch, back to the bakery, …

He groaned as he opened his eyes again. Rubbing his eyes, he cursed the nearly blinding setting sun. Gray had either seriously lost track of time, or he had fallen asleep. Realizing how much time had passed, Gray jumped up and immediately began to run down the mountain back home, not once thinking of his leg.

Doug was reading a magazine at his desk while Ann swept the wooden floors when Gray finally made it back.

"We weren't sure you would make it back in time for dinner," Ann remarked as she looked up. "… Your eyes are kind of red and puffy. Are you alright?"

"I… the wind flung some dirt in my face."

There had been a good deal of wind that morning, which had sent many of the newly budding trees' leaves in swirls. Even so, Ann shrugged her shoulders in doubt. She didn't bother to ask why his clothes were in such poor condition.

Doug folded up his paper, tossed it on his desk, and stood up. "Well, guess we can get going then." Gray only had time to take off his tie and grab a hat to hide his rather messy and dirty hair from his nap.

Ann guided the conversation on the way to the bakery away from talking about Pete. One of the cows looked a little sick, Ann was concerned about the quality of the fodder, some of the tools were looking a bit rusted. Nothing said caught Gray's attention until the three were already sitting at a table.

"Wait, what did you say again, dad?"

"I said it's a shame that the family is keeping the ranch. I would have looked at the property myself. Pete's son told me about the decision an hour ago."

Gray shook his head. "I wasn't under the impression he had any interest in the farm."

"He didn't. It's not him that's going to run it. It's that boy Jack."

Gray had to stifle a chuckle. He was only able to do so as the other emotion he was feeling besides amusement was annoyance.

"You mean some kid who hasn't spent more than two weeks on a farm is going to run it all by myself?"

Doug's moustache did little to hide his smirk. "He doesn't have a chance. Maybe they'll be able to find someone better off managing it soon enough, though."

"You two shouldn't be so cynical," Ann chided. "Plus, we should be doing anything we can to help him along." Ann looked at her father significantly as if there was something he was supposed to say. Doug looked confused for a moment before he realized what she was getting at.

"Gray, there is something we need to talk about," Doug began.

Great. More bad news. "Continue."

"As it stands, Flowerbud won't have any entry into the hors-."

"You can't be seri-."

"He's not too big, he has the facilities, and he's interested in doing it."

Gray shook his head. "I won't have it! He's not going to lay a finger on Cliffgard!"

"He won't be riding Cliffgard," Ann interjected.

"… Do explain then."

"Neither me or dad would allow someone who has never ridden before to get on Cliffgard. That's why we tried looking around for someone who might be able to take your reigns… do you know Tingen's jockey?"

"Really?" Gray asked incredulously. "That's the best you could find? The guy's a moron."

"That's what you call everyone," Ann noted. "Look, no one else had any interest switching horses. Most of them said that the only reason Cliffgard had so much success was because of you."

"That's ridiculous. Cliffgard is a great horse," Gray said in his defense.

Doug rejoined the conversation as he rubbed his hands together. "You don't have to convince either of us. Now, to what I was getting at. Jack needs a horse, and one that can race. If you remember, we had an agreement we worked out for another colt by the same stallion that sired Cliffgard. I know you haven't spent much time with our business as of late, but we brought that horse in a month ago."

Gray winced. "I do remember that deal. That was the horse I was supposed to ride once Cliffgard got too old or in case he got hurt."

Both Doug and Ann looked sympathetic. "We know that, Gray," Ann said for both of them. "But there's nothing we can do about that now. This is our chance to both give this colt something to do and do our part to help out Jack."

Gray prepared to protest but found himself hesitating. It took him a moment to realize why.

A promise. A promise he had made to Pete that if his family decided to keep the farm that Gray would help out. This was Gray's chance to repay what Pete had done for him and be done with the whole obligations without getting his hands too dirty. He leaned back in his chair and threw his arms up.

"Yeah, whatever. Give him the horse. Just don't blame me when he gets a perfectly good horse put down on the track."

"It's settled then," Ann said, seemingly trying to hide her growing frustration with Gray's attitude. "Jack will probably come by sometime in the next week for the colt."

"If he hasn't given up and gone home by then," Gray finished.

Ann had finally had enough. "Gracious alive, Gray! Do you really have to be so depressing about everything?"

Gray smiled as he readjusted his hat. "Not depressed. You said it best yourself- cynical."


	12. Chapter 12- Balancing

**Author's Notes:** I'm back! Not sure how interesting of a chapter this is, especially after a long wait but... it's the best I got. At least it's somewhat long. I was being distracted by lots of people trying to talk to me when proofreading, so please let me know of any mistakes- I won't be offended! Not sure how much more I have to say so... enjoy!

Mnema-Thanks again! I'm glad that the last chapter really resonated with you... that's not something I get a lot. It's pretty touching, actually.

Doing the backstory to HM:64 has been a lot of fun! I feel like the material was already there in the game (which is one of the reasons I love 64 so much). All I had to do was kind of bring it together. Many of the future plot details are fluid, but you have some great ideas as to where things could go ;) I hope I don't disappoint!

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**Chapter Twelve- Balancing**

Gray spent almost the entirety of the next week on the ranch. While he wasn't interested in putting up with the other villagers, his reason for not getting out was actually logical. As Gray had no reason to return to Pete's farm, he was expected by his family to help manage Green Ranch again. Ann spent a couple days working Gray back into the schedule and introducing him to some of the newer animals before letting him run things a few days alone while she assisted Doug prepare some financial statements.

Ann had finished this and was back working with Gray for two days when she slid open the barn doors and yelled to Gray as he was funneling milk from buckets into glass jars Zack supplied them to prepare the product for shipping.

"Gray! He's here! Can you get the horse ready?"

By "he" she meant "Jack." Gray looked up and nodded silently. Ann gave him a thumbs up and ran off again. Gray sighed as he stood up, walked to one of the stalls, and grabbed a small colt by its lead.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get to know you very well," he mused in a muffled voice. "Didn't even get to name you since we knew we were giving you away. I hope he treats you well. Just save your best years for after 'Gard is retired, alright?"

After these last words, Gray led him towards the door in silence, only to be interrupted by Doug's arrival.

"Let me take once last look at him before we hand him over. You go introduce yourself to Jack."

Doug's tone rarely left room for debate. Even so, Gray only reluctantly handed the lead to his father, voicing his discontent through an unintelligible mumble.

Jack was some distance off in the field talking with Ann, who was petting Cliffgard. Just seeing Jack stand that close to his prized horse rubbed Gray the wrong way.

Jack stole a glance at Gray as he approached. The new farmer appeared to be about Gray's age with brown hair and eyes. He was moderately built but ultimately fairly nondescript. His countenance, however, intrigued Gray. He wore an open smile and his expression was set in a way that seemed somehow untroubled.

Ann turned to Gray upon seeing that Jack was distracted by someone approaching behind her. "Hey Gray! Jack and I were just talking about horses. We were needing someone to ride the new colt, so hey brother, what about him? Reflexes are quick. Seems good, don't you think?"

Gray turned to Ann with a frown. Why in the world did she feel the need to act like they hadn't already made a decision? Was it because she desired to force Gray to claim that he wanted Jack to take the horse in front of him? If that was the case, she was sorely mistaken. Gray had no interest in playing along. Jack looked like an eager schoolboy- happy to have the opportunity, but ultimately a young, naïve fool who would botch any task given to him.

"… I don't think so. But do want you want. I'm going to go to town for a bit."

Jack didn't so much as get a chance to introduce himself before Gray walked away. Why would he need to, though? They weren't entirely unfamiliar with each other, and Gray obviously knew who he was- a boy from the city with no farming experience, a grandson who spent only several hours with his grandfather in his last year… the most important fact about him being, though, that he simply wasn't Pete.

The road to Flowerbud had largely dried with the change of weather, but some traces of snow still clung to life in the shadows it could find after a late night flurry. Gray kicked a few pieces out into the sunlight as he walked along the path. It was time for winter to give up.

Gray looked sour enough that Harris, who was out delivering mail per usual, didn't stop to greet him. In fact, neither did anyone else that Gray encountered as he walked a loop around town for no apparent reason with hands thrusted deep into his pockets. At the potion master's house, Gray cursed him for not even trying to save Pete. At Mayor Thomas's house, Gray cursed him for allowing Pete's family to make all the funeral arrangements. By the bar, Gray cursed all the time he had wasted there rather than getting to know people like Pete. Outside the church, Gray cursed Pastor Brown for obviously not praying hard enough. Whether Gray would go back home from there or head off to the mountains for more solace, he didn't know. Either way, the road would take him near Jack's farm. He was going to have a fun time there.

Gray had not yet decided the way forward when he heard his name called out.

"Gray." He turned to his right to see Ellen in her rocking chair out on the bakery lawn. He looked at her but didn't respond.

"Come here, Gray," repeated the voice.

The young man couldn't help but sigh. He wasn't in the mood to talk, but he wasn't mad at Ellen, which is more than he could say for most of the people he knew. Ellen actually was Pete's friend, so it would be disrespectful to both of them to not obey her.

Gray somehow managed to bury his hands even deeper into his pockets. Ellen smiled as he approached her- not out of happiness, but out of some sort of knowingness.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"… Now how do you actually feel?"

"None of your business."

Gray realized he was being rude, which he felt bad about, but the words just came out. Ellen remained calm, though.

"Gray, listen to me. I know you were close to Pete-."

"- Pete was a fool. 'Should have told a doctor about his heart condition a long time ago. Maybe he'd still be alive."

Ellen was evidently unaware about what Gray had just revealed, but the change in her expression was almost imperceptible. "Maybe. But... that was the way he chose to live his life. I don't think he ever wanted anyone worrying about him. We're fortunate to have had the time we did… I know you're upset about losing him. You don't need to try hiding it from me. It's alright to be upset."

Gray smiled and took a seat in the grass so he wouldn't remain awkwardly standing in front of Ellen.

"Then why do we need to talk?"

"It's because it's important to release emotions in useful ways. Keeping anger in and then lashing out periodically isn't going to help anyone... Jeff told me about your outburst the morning of the funeral."

"People can't seem to keep their mouths shut…" Gray grumbled.

Ellen laughed and readjusted her glasses. "Yes, but it doesn't change what I'm trying to say."

"And what is that?"

"Are you happy with the way things are in this village?"

Gray answered this one firmly. "No."

"So you want change, then?"

"I guess you could say that."

Ellen leaned forward in her chair as far as she could without falling over. "Then do something to make change happen. Pete told you that you should try building a community with your peers, yes?" Gray nodded as a response. "Yes, I knew you would remember. Maybe the best way to honor his memory would be to listen to him, not lose your temper with everyone in the village."

Gray shook his head slowly. "You make it sound so easy."

Ellen chuckled softly. "You know… it's been almost fifteen years since I lost Carl. Dear Elli is the only family I have left. Pete was a good friend of mine, too. I've been where you are. I'm still there, even today. But it's a place I've been many times. The older you get, the more you learn how to cope with it… the sting goes away, but the memory is always there. Eventually you learn how to go about dealing with emotions in the right way. Maybe you could learn that lesson earlier than I did."

"Hmm." Gray rubbed his hands as he stood up. After a brief pause, he nodded his head.

"I'll stop by whenever I can. You can tell me about the things you did with Pete that I missed. That way, we'd keep him alive in a way, I guess. It'd all be new to me."

Ellen smiled. "I'd like that. Keep them brief, though. I'm an old woman, Gray, and conversations this long tire me."

Gray smirked and tipped his hat as he returned to the main road. He went directly home, passing Jack's ranch without bothering to come with anything nasty to think. He was happy to see the snow he had kicked had indeed melted in his absence.

Upon arrival, Gray found Ann in the meadow examining some of the animals. As he approached, Gray forgot that she was probably upset at him until he noticed she put her hands on her hips upon seeing him.

"Are you going to explain yourself?"

"Pardon?"

"You just walked off! After insulting poor Jack, too! What in the world was that for?!"

Gray shrugged. "Didn't feel like talking, that's all."

"You know, you seem to have a strange idea of what kind of person Jack is." Ann then teased with a crooked smile, "He's not that scary. You could probably beat him up if you really wanted to."

"Don't encourage me," Gray replied dryly.

Ann prepared to glare at him before seeing the smirk he was trying to hide.

"Well, whatever," she said, trying to hold in a chuckle. Dislike him as he may, Gray wasn't going to assault anyone. "At some point, you aren't going to be able to run away from talking with him."

"Next time I'll be prepared."

"Expecting him to stop by our ranch for a week wasn't long enough for you?"

"I meant physically prepared, not mentally."

Ann rolled her eyes. "Well, get 'physically prepared' by doing something useful. I finished up the crating you were working on, but there's still enough to do to go around."

* * *

"You want what?" Ann asked incredulously. She had been walking by Gray's room on her way to get ready to go to bed after a long day of work, but she instead sat down beside Gray on his bed expecting a long conversation.

"I said I want to spend more time with the people our age."

"Besides me and Rick?"

"Yes."

"Girls, too?"

"Yes."

Ann smiled and stole a pillow to spin on her fingertip.

"What brought this on?"

"Just thinking. We... could use better community, you know?"

Ann nodded. "Not the person I'd expect to hear this from, but sure. Yeah, it's a great idea! What's your plan?"

"I'm asking you."

The laugh he earned in response was brief but loud. "Ok! Umm… my advice… Well, first, I'd at least try talking to everyone in the next week or so. I get together with the girls every few days. I can suggest we plan something that involves all of us. Does that sound good?"

Gray nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing." Ann was hesitant to finish her thought, but eventually continued. "You should go back to the bar."

Gray raised an eyebrow. "You think that's a good idea?"

Though she paused again, Ann gave him a smile. "I trust my brother enough to not do anything too stupid. I'm not even saying you should drink anything at all. It's just that I know you're usually pretty busy during the day, especially now that you are working again. I'll never understand why, but it seems like every male in town thinks it's the place to go at night. I guess you're missing out or something by not being there. I'm sure your friends would like to see you."

"My friends?"

"Your friends. Do you think everyone hates you now or something?"

"I don't know if they hate me, but they hardly seem to notice my absence. No one… well, almost no one… even bothered to say a word to me at Pete's service."

"Maybe they didn't think you wanted them to. I got the same impression, honestly. You can't expect everyone's world to revolve around you and have everyone going around moping when you aren't happy."

Her words were harsh, but her tone was kind enough to keep him from getting angry. Or maybe it was because she was right. His time on the mountain made that clear. People's lives didn't revolve around him. They didn't seem to revolve around anything much at all, unless he just wasn't high enough to see the whole puzzle. Either way, he was just another person among people. Sure, people could be sad about Gray's state, but it didn't have to be the sole gossip of the village. And maybe he had judged other people's emotions as indifference unfairly. The only way to find out what they were really thinking was to go back out again and see for himself.

"You're right."

Ann didn't answer. The two sat together in thought until Ann suddenly jumped up.

"Hold right here!"

Ann hopped out of the room and shortly returned with a book in hand. She leaped back into her seat and sat the book between the two of them.

"What's this?"

"All the pictures we have from when we were kids. Talking about friends made me think of this. You've looked through it before, right?"

"Not that I can remember," Gray mumbled.

"… Why doesn't that surprise me? I'll show you some of my favorites then. Like this."

Ann stopped flipping through the book three pages in. She pointed to a picture at the bottom of the page.

"I would have only been a couple years old at the time, but Dad explained the story behind it. Apparently you had been messing around in the closet and found some of Mema's old projects. One of them was a sort of handheld spinning sprinkler to speed up watering crops." Ann could barely finish through her laughter. "And you thought it would be a good idea to run it through your hair."

In the photograph, a much younger Gray stood with tears running down his face. The hair on his head was in a tangled mess interlaced in a metallic object dangling off to his side. Gray's grandparents stood behind his shoulders hugging him from both sides, obviously quite amused.

Gray tried to act unimpressed. "You must have done that to me. I don't even bother using regular combs."

"Uh-hu. That must be it. I always got a kick out of this. It's also one of the last pictures we have of Papa so…"

Gray knew there must have been pictures with their mother in the album as well, but Ann skipped over them, most likely out of discomfort. Gray didn't press.

"There's another one in a couple pages… yeah, this! It's not really that funny, but I think it sums up our childhood quite well. You would almost think it was staged."

Gray actually did remember when this picture was taken. It was at the Flower Festival from when he was about ten. Karen had tried running off with the box containing the ballots revealing who would play the Goddess. She had been caught and was currently sitting at a bench in the corner of the square pouting in timeout. Ann sat beside her with her mouth open, probably making fun of her. Maria had joined them on the next bench over. Her timeout was probably voluntary, though, as she sat quietly with book in hand. Further away, towards the middle of the square, Gray and Rick were walking together. Rick was intently studying something he was holding in his hand- Gray couldn't tell what- while Gray stood by with a raised eyebrow, already judging whatever stupid thing Rick was planning to do with it. It wasn't an important moment, but someone had the idea to capture it anyways.

"Oh," Ann added with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "I got my stupid scar not long after this. Those were the days… of youth and unspoiled skin."

"Ann, no one's going to notice a scar right on your hairline, and I don't think anyone's not going to marry you if they find out about it."

"I don't have a boyfriend yet, do I?"

"Shouldn't have been messing around in trees if you're that worried about your appearance. If you are, I might suggest you wear something other than yellow and overalls."

Ann frowned as she readjusted her hair, making sure the blemish was fully covered. "I just don't like the permanence of it. And, before you blame this all on me, you should have been there making sure I wasn't misbehaving! Instead Jack had to help me home."

Gray had forgotten that Jack had been in town and was with Ann when she fell. Like earlier, the thought of Jack put Gray in a bad mood.

"Don't complain to me about falls," Gray muttered under his breath bitterly.

"What did you say?"

The ignorant smile on Ann's face showed that she really hadn't heard him. Gray sighed.

"Never mind." Gray lifted the album off the bed and turned over a page. Apparently Gray couldn't avoid Jack, as the new farmer was in one of the pictures on that page. Gray was surprised to see that he and Jack actually had their arms slung over each other in this moment. They were on the beach, and had obviously just returned from playing in the water.

"Aww, that's cute!" Ann pestered. "I didn't realize the two of you were such great friends! I can't believe you haven't stopped by to say hi to your ol' buddy yet."

"I forgot how often he came to the village," Gray admitted as he closed the book. "But that was a long time ago. He hasn't been by in years. Probably a different person now. I don't think we were ever that close, anyways. The camera probably just caught me at a bad time." Gray tossed the book to her. "I'm tired, Ann."

Ann nodded as she wrapped her arms around the album and stood back up. "Yeah, me too. You need your sleep with such a big day ahead!"

Gray stared at her in confusion.

"You're going to make sure you make time to talk to everyone tomorrow, right?" she clarified.

Gray snorted. "We'll see about that."

Ann looked at him with a playful grin on her face. She took a step back when she realized Gray was about to ask her what she was so amused about.

"Good night, Gray."

"… Good night."

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**Author's Note:** I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review either way.

One thing I've noticed myself is that I'm twelve chapters in and yet we've really only gotten a good look at a few of the characters (Gray, Pete, and Ann come to mind). This is somewhat intentional. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about everyone else! If you've been bothered by this, you're in luck- as suggested in this chapter, we will be seeing more of the other characters here soon. Not everyone can have an equal spotlight, obviously, (which is why I'd encourage anyone to write about a diverse number of characters so everyone gets some love!) but I don't want to ignore half the village either!


	13. Chapter 13- The Step

**Author's Notes:** I'm back! What a long delay this one was… Work kept me quite busy over the summer, but the real reason this took so long is because I've been working on another story. Yeah, I know… maybe I should have given more attention here on the story I have people actually waiting on, but the idea came up for that one and I just couldn't shake it until it was on paper. That's the bad news. The good news is that I'm basically finished with that one (minus editing and maybe minor additions), and I am as enthusiastic about this story as ever! If you see notifications of me posting for another story, do not fear… it's this one that I'm actually doing more work on. I have a few ideas I'm already kicking around for the next few chapters. As for when I actually get to those, well… we shall see.

In the meantime, enjoy this very long chapter! I thought about splitting it into two, but I decided that despite its length, this whole thing acts as one unit. I feel like both parts would suffer if separated. So there's a very basic explanation of my reasoning! I'll keep things here short since you already have a lot ahead to read...

Mnemah\- Is it me or did you add an extra letter at the end of your username since I last updated? ;) Thanks for your compliments! I have a habit of seeing myself as someone who has some ideas for stories that stand unique from others in the fandom but that my prose is pretty dull, undescriptive, and repetitive. I appreciate your encouragement.

Laserif\- Thanks! I'm glad you thought that Chapter 10 worked well. I wanted it to really affect the reader, even though we all knew what had to happen at some point.

Guest\- I'm glad to hear that you are liking the story, my anonymous friend!

anon\- Yes, I'm always looking for more 64 renditions of the characters, which are sadly very hard to find. Your review came at a time that I was really working on getting through this chapter, so it definitely helped motivate me. Thanks!

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**Chapter Thirteen- The Step**

Ann took Gray's mission seriously. So serious, actually, that she wrote out a list of names of every Flowerbud resident within ten years of their age, with the only exceptions being themselves, Rick, and the younger carpenters who lived out in the mountains, who seemed more interested in their work than getting involved in town affairs. Gray had to (or so she said he had to) talk to every one of them and mark them off the list by the end of the day. Though he didn't appreciate Ann's zeal, Gray grudgingly agreed to go along with the plan as the sense of urgency was probably the only way he'd get anything done.

The first name checked off the list was the mailman Harris as the family walked together to the bakery for breakfast. Ann was reluctant to count it, as all Gray did was acknowledge him and ask him how his morning was going. Gray argued that it was far more than he'd usually say, and there was nothing she could do to enforce a stricter set of rules. Harris was a few years older than them, anyways, and few people ever had conversations with him past daily small talk. Besides, Ann was more concerned with him talking to the girls.

The next two names were, of course, Elli and Jeff as the three sat down at their table. Like Harris, Jeff was also a bit older than the others, being just barely within the ten year range. His participation felt more critical, though, since he had lived in the village for a whole decade, much longer than his counterpart Harris, and had more connections to the other villagers.

Elli was in the kitchen working, but Jeff immediately came by to take their orders. Rather than speaking up, though, Gray mumbled out his breakfast and allowed Jeff to escape to give the orders to Elli. Gray looked down to avoid watching Ann shake her head at the missed opportunity. To be fair, he had technically talked to Jeff.

Ann, though, wasn't going to let the situation slip by. As soon as Jeff returned to the counter, Ann waved him over.

"Hey Jeff, come talk with us for a bit."

"Oh!" he replied, "I'm actually about to review some shipments we're supposed to get later to-."

"-No, you're coming to talk with us. The shipments can wait… come on, now!" Ann, as usual, didn't leave room for discussion. Jeff gave up any futile attempt at resisting and quietly joined them at the table.

Apparently, Ann had gone quiet, too, as she looked to Gray. She wanted him to start the conversation. Was she mad? How could she call Jeff over and then expect her brother to carry it on from there without warning?

Gray had to think fast. Surprisingly, though, something actually came to him pretty quickly. Or maybe it was on his subconscious all along.

"There's something I wanted to talk about, Jeff," Gray exhaled.

Jeff leaned back unconsciously. "Yes, of course, Gray… speak your mind." Jeff tried to sound casual, but there was evident stiffness in his voice. Not surprising, since he was talking with Gray like they were close friends. As Jeff historically had the impression that he annoyed Gray, he wasn't sure where this conversation was going.

"I heard you were one of the people that helped me after… it… happened. I never thanked you. So thanks." Gray nodded as if congratulating himself on spitting something out.

Jeff's face softened. "Well… I think anyone in this village would have done the same. You did look quite injured. You seem to carrying along much better now, though, yes?"

Gray rubbed his chin. "Yeah, my leg is better. Can't ride, but it's better."

"No, no… I'm asking if you are better, not your leg."

And it was stuff like this that made Jeff get on Gray's nerves. He always had to go there. Then again, so did Pete, and that was one of the things that Gray liked about him. But this was somehow different. Pete usually did it in a private setting without Gray's family eagerly awaiting the answer, and frequently he was discoursing about his own internal thoughts and struggles rather than asking for someone else to talk about theirs.

Even so, the reminder of Pete meant something. Maybe Gray could talk with Jeff about the kind of things Pete would share whenever he got the chance to converse with the baker alone. That would provide some kind of continuity. Ellen would be happy to hear that he and Jeff were close, too.

If these talks were to happen, though, the two would have to become friends. Which might take longer than it ought to, as Jeff was reconfirmed in his belief that Gray disliked him while Gray sat there in silence after being asked a question.

Gray was actually too busy thinking to recognize that he was seemingly brushing Jeff off. He was only drawn back out of his mind when he realized his father was now answering for him.

"Ehh, don't expect him to actually answer," Doug said, "but he has finally gotten off his bed and done something useful by getting back to work on the ranch."

Thanks, father. But he continued.

"He's actually done good work. I'm proud of him. He couldn't have done that if he hadn't pulled himself together."

"Well, that's always good to hear," Jeff said with a smile. "It was only a matter of time. Of course Gray would be strong enough to handle such a trial!"

Gray got a few minutes reprieve as Doug and Jeff began to talk business, as the Green Ranch was a frequent supplier for the baking ingredients. This break only lasted until Elli returned with their breakfast. As she did with Jeff, Ann "persuaded" Elli to sit with them while they ate.

Elli was thankfully much kinder than everyone else at the table, as she didn't press Gray to say anything further after asking him how he was. Sensing that he wasn't keen on conversing, she spoke more with the rest of his family. Gray could get used to dealing with people if they were all as calm as Elli or Maria. Maybe they could have a book club where they all sat alone or something.

Ann was again disappointed at the lack of progress, but Gray hadn't broken any rules of the game. After breakfast was swept away, Ann motioned for Gray to follow her. She directed him to a spot near the doors leading outside to get away from the others in the room.

"There's not that much work that actually needs to be done today," Ann began, "I can handle it on my own. You have other business to attend to, am I right?"

"… It'll be done," Gray assured. He smirked as he pulled out a small pencil and then a piece of paper stuck between the pages of a book he was carrying. He made two scratch marks on the paper. "Already almost there." He tipped his hat and left alone, leaving Doug to pay for the meal.

The logical next step would have been to walk just across the street to Popuri. But he had just blown through three assignments in a short period of time. He deserved an easier job.

That easier job was going to talk with Maria next. Not only would the conversation be very lax, but he actually had an excuse to talk with her, as he was planning on returning the book he was carrying.

Maria was alone in the small village library maneuvering a cart full of books to return its contents to their respective shelves. She paused as she heard the door open.

"H-h-hello. Please feel free to-."

Rather than listening to Maria finish her pointless introduction, Gray tossed his book onto the cart, which caused enough of a jolt that Maria stopped midsentence. The two stood looking at each other until Maria finally spoke up.

"H-how was it?"

"Delightful."

Maria studied his face, but both it and his tone were too inexpressive to decide whether he was being serious or sarcastic. Gray quietly snatched another book off the cart and flipped through a couple of pages.

"Would you recommend this?" he asked.

"Oh yes! I was the one who had checked it out, actually. It's ab-."

"I'll take it."

Gray tapped the book a couple times against the cart before heading for the door. Before reaching it, though, he spun around and pointed his new book at the young woman.

"Do you like working here?"

Maria twirled a finger around some of her dark hair. "Y-yes… very much, Gray…"

"Then keep it up. Don't let people tell you what you do isn't important. Do what you like, and if it makes someone happy… then it was worth it."

Maria didn't answer, but she did smile meekly and nod.

Gray left the library feeling energized and carrying fresh reading material. It was as good of a time as any to take on one of his greater fears- the Flower Shop.

The rancher could feel a lump forming in his throat as he forced himself to walk in its direction. He could remember the last time he had disastrously tried making a visit to the shop. He had only spoken with Popuri once since that day.

Unlike that fateful incident, Gray would have a reason to make a stop at the Flower Shop. He… just had to think of one.

A bell on the door alerted those inside that someone was entering. Though Lillia was likely as surprised to see Gray as she was last time, the customer's attention focused on her husband Basil. Basil travelled during the fall and winter seasons annually, so it had been a very long time since Gray had last seen him. The man was at the shop's center table counting seed packets and making tallies in a notebook. He smiled and dropped his pen when he saw Gray.

"Gray! When's the last time I saw you? How are you doing?"

Gray looked at his leg and then back up. "Fine."

"Glad to hear it! What brings you here today?"

"… Shopping." What other excuse could he have?

"I see! Well, I'm just about to put out some more of these vegetable seeds here, if yo-."

"-We don't grow vegetables."

By this point, Lillia had already gone back to working on whatever she was doing at her desk, while Basil stepped closer to their guest to point out some of their items.

"That's true. Then you must be here for some flowers to decor-."

"- We don't grow flowers, either."

Basil laughed loudly. "You must have walked into the wrong shop, then, Gray."

"Where's Popuri?"

The girl's father raised an eyebrow. "She's in the greenhouse out back. I was actually about to take some turnip seeds out there. Looking at how much we already have in here, I think we're better off growing some ourselves instead of having extra stuff that won't sell. I can tell her you are here looking for her, if you want."

"No, no… actually, I… umm… I could take the seeds back to her myself. You stay here and work."

Basil smirked a little in amusement without ever lowering his eyebrow. "Well… alright. It's probably not good business practice to have customers do our work for us, but I won't argue if you want to do it."

Gray took a handful of packages from him and opened the front door by leaning against it with his back. Both Basil and Lillia said goodbye, but Gray did not answer as he made his way out.

Though the greenhouse was just behind the shop, Gray had to walk around the block since the area was fenced in. Its windows at eye level were too opaque to make out distinct forms inside, so Gray didn't know what he was getting himself into until he slid open the doors to the building.

The greenhouse didn't look much different than what would be expected. The floor was entirely covered in soil with ten very neat rows of flowers and vegetables at different stages of growth organized by species. Shelves and equipment lined a large portion of the walls. Popuri was at the other end of the greenhouse on her knees tilling a stretch of dirt at the end of a long patch of flowers in the corner. There was a crate of small pots resting next to her; some of pots were filled with soil and flowers while others were completely empty. From what he could tell, she had been removing these flowers from the ground, lowering them into pots, and then preparing the ground to be used again. She didn't notice Gray until he cleared his throat while nearly standing over her.

The girl yelped in surprise and fell back onto the ground. She quickly jumped up to her feet.

"Gray! What are you do- Oh, I can take those! I… uhh… let me wash my hands first!"

Popuri leapt to a nearby facet rising several feet above the ground from a pipe. She turned its handle and quickly rinsed her hands before taking the seeds from Gray.

"Basil told me to bring these back," he explained.

The girl shook her head as she walked to a nearby shelf and set them in a basket. "Seems odd that he'd ask you to do it."

"Oh, he didn't ask me. I told him I was coming back here."

"What for?" Popuri asked as she leaned against the shelf with her arms crossed.

"… To see what flowers you have growing."

"Do you like flowers, Gray?"

Gray looked at the small field to his side. For some reason, the flowers reminded him of the birds that annoyed him so much while he was recovering. Flowers are beautiful and innocent but so naïve. They flout their colors like they are something important, yet they'll die in just a slight excess of wind, rain, or sun. Sometimes, even keeping them away from all of that won't be enough to save them. They serve no utility, yet people still pay money to have them.

"They're confounding," Gray finally answered.

Popuri squinted as if trying to decide if she remembered the definition of the word correctly. "Confounding? That's a new one. I've heard them described as pretty… comforting… pointless… but never confounding."

"Confounding can mean all those together."

"Ohh… is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Gray shrugged. "A good thing, I guess."

The young gardener beamed. "Great! So… umm… I need to keep on working, but you can stay around and look at the different flowers we have… I can point out what kind they are, if you want!"

Gray nodded, which Popuri took to mean that he agreed. Though having him stand around was a little awkward for her, she did a decent job of hiding it as she went back to where she had left off.

After setting his book on the same shelf that Popuri had laid the seeds on, her visitor wandered around the greenhouse with his hands in his pockets occasionally bending down to examine some of the plants. Popuri had just almost managed to forget he was even there when Gray came back over to where she was working.

"Do you need help?"

"Thanks, but I can do it myself, Gray," she said after craning her neck up. "Besides, my parents would say it's agai-."

"I insist," Gray said as he knelt by her side.

"Eep! I… well, I guess it won't do any harm. Umm… here, I know! When I pull this out, you can take one of those pots and bring them closer to me! Once I get it in, you can put it back in the tray! You don't even have to get you hands dirty!"

Gray never verbally agreed, but he did as he was ordered. The two worked quietly until Gray eventually inquired if Popuri's family would have to do a lot of work preparing for the Flower Festival later in the season. Popuri got so excited just talking about the festival- its colors, meaning, how she was born the day before it- that she didn't even address the original question. Almost a full hour had passed before she finally queried about what they were discussing before.

"I asked if you have to do a lot of work to get ready for the Flower Festival."

"Ahh! I do! I try to bring my nicest outfit an-."

"-I mean as a business," Gray groaned. "There's a lot flowers around the square that day, and I figured you had to supply them."

Popuri laughed good-naturedly. "That's embarrassing. But yeah, you're right. We have to do all of that. And speaking of supplying flowers, I need those taken back to the shop," she said as she pointed to the stacks of pots behind Gray. "I'm done pulling stuff out today, which means there isn't really anything else for you to do here at the moment."

Gray nodded and slid the trays on a cart Popuri had shown him after they had begun working.

"Are you sure you don't want help pushing? It looks pretty heavy."

"I'll manage."

After grabbing his book, Gray immediately started wheeling the cart towards the exit, so Popuri jumped in front of him to push the doors open. Though he would have been content walking away, Popuri called out to him.

"Thanks for all your help!" Popuri grinned. "It was a lot of fun!"

"Don't mention it," Gray grunted as he went on. Once at his destination, he explained to Lillia and Basil why he was bringing them the flowers in as few words as possible before heading back towards the Green Ranch.

There were only three more names on the list. He didn't want to interfere with any work going on at the vineyard during the day, but he was confident he could find Karen and Kai at the bar that night. Kai stopped in on most nights, and Karen worked there part time on certain days of the week. Gray frowned as he studied the last name on the list. He shook his head and stuffed the note down his pocket.

Upon his return to the ranch, Gray went to work in the barn after dropping his book off in his room and taking a short lunch break. Ann, not surprisingly, pestered Gray with questions about how much progress he had made and why he was back so soon. To his sister's annoyance, Gray only said that he'd tell her about it once he was completely done so he wouldn't have to repeat himself. He made sure to alternate between cleaning the barn and taking care of the animals in the field depending on where Ann wasn't working at the time- there were fewer questions that way.

He couldn't avoid a dinner at the bar that night with Ann and Doug, but thankfully the three ate fast. The meals Duke prepared were usually very mediocre; people came for the drinks, not the food. Because of this, most of the evening regulars did not arrive until after dinnertime when Gray's family was ready to leave. While Doug went to pay, Gray informed his sister of his intention to stay.

"Do what you need to do. Don't get too drunk," Ann commanded as she stood up and joined her father. The two left, leaving Gray behind at their table. He sat pensively with crossed arms while Duke cleaned up their plates. Once he was done, Gray ordered a small mug of beer, taking his sips conservatively since he didn't think Ann would approve of him ordering a second.

The regulars were not far behind. Gray had intentionally sat at his old table to ensure that he would not disrupt the order of the system.

The first few people who walked in, like Harris and Karen's father Gotz, looked at Gray strangely momentarily but otherwise went about their business as usual. It wasn't until Zack walked in that Gray was officially welcomed back.

Zack broke into a wide grin as soon as he saw his younger friend. He walked over to Gray's table and stuck out his hand, which Gray took after standing up. Zack then brought him in for a quick embrace. It was an acceptable form of socialization for Gray since he didn't have to say anything and he was able to do it without looking too uncool.

The two conversed briefly in a low voice about work before Zack finally asked why Gray had gone so long without coming to see him either at work or at the bar. Gray listed off a number of excuses as to why he had been occupied with other business. It was among the longest statements Gray had ever made up to that point in his life, and it was also a historical case of him spouting off untrue garbage. Gray was usually one to be brutally honest, but this time he thought it best to not reveal the real reasons he had been distant for so long.

Gray found telling a string of lies exhausting, so he tried to cut the reunion short. He did have a real reason for doing so, though, which he revealed to his friend in the form of a partial truth.

"Listen, Zack… it's good talking, but I have to talk business with some others while I'm here… I'll see ya later?"

Zack raised his glass as Gray stood up. "Don't be a stranger."

It was a short walk to the main bar, where Karen stood hunched over it spinning a shot glass on the counter with her right hand and holding another shot in her left. The general consensus seemed to be that Karen, with her blonde bangs and tough attitude, was the hottest of the girls in Flowerbud- not to mention that because she worked at her family's vineyard during the day and as a waitress at the bar after dark, she had been around alcohol enough that she could really put it down. Gray had thought she was kind of a jerk when they were growing up, but he hadn't talked to her much in the past few years. Maybe it was time he gave her a second chance. Ann seemed to like her a lot, and at the very least she could make a respectable drinking companion.

Gray strutted up beside her and leaned against the bar. Karen's head was bowed down to the glass she was spinning and didn't move as Gray approached. The only recognition he got was when her eyes flitted in his direction before returning their steady gaze to the bar.

The young man didn't speak until after taking a gulp from the mug of beer in his hand. "Working hard?" Gray finally commented dryly.

Karen looked up to him with a frown. "The counter is less than ten steps from the furthest seat in the room. The lazy lowlifes that come to this place can afford walking the little extra distance up here themselves. Better than making me do their stuff for them, you don't disagree?"

Gray nodded. "'Don't disagree. But that's what you're being paid to do, right?"

Karen looked over to Duke, who was busy using a blender in the kitchen. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to hear anything she said, she continued, "Listen here. Duke has enough time that he walks around taking orders occasionally, and if they really want something, they just come up. Duke doesn't really care if I do that. What he has me here for is to clean the tables after hours so he can close up the kitchen. I shouldn't have to clean after other people, but I'll do it if that is what I'm being paid to do. But I shouldn't do something if it's stupid just because people feel entitled."

Gray stared at her in awe. He wasn't sure how he had gone so long not talking to someone with whom he had so much in common.

At least until her expression turned to that of disgust and she slapped him across the face.

"Stop staring at me like that, you creep! Gosh! What do you think you're trying to do?"

Karen shook her head, took a mouthful of her drink, and walked over to one of the tables. "Is anyone here wanting something?"

Gray, meanwhile, was nurturing his hurt cheek. He nearly retaliated at someone who grabbed his shoulder from behind.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry about Miss Karen! She can get a bit carried away at times, but she's a good person. You must believe me."

Gray should have been glad that it was Kai talking to him, as it meant he had taken both Kai and Karen's names off the list in one fell swoop. But he wasn't in the mood to be glad about anything.

"No I don't."

"Well, is there anything I can do to-."

"- Yeah, leave me alone."

What Kai couldn't seem to get was that he was only making things worse. Rather than sucking up to him, Kai should have been chastising the volatile Karen. But of course he wouldn't do that, as he cared too much about his job to stir up any controversy. So instead he chose to talk with Gray about what happened, which only served to embarrass Gray more by reminding him and everyone else present about it. How about everyone just moves on?

Kai lowered his head and walked back to his chair unsure as to what else to do. No one else even bothered to act like anything had happened. After all, it was just Karen being Karen. In other words, Karen being a jerk. Gray looked back to his table; Zack was gone. Either he had left when Gray had gone up to speak to Karen, or he had ducked out after the incident so he wouldn't feel obligated to stand up for his buddy. Coward.

Gray shook his head and held up his empty mug. "Get me another one of these things, Duke."

No one who had seen what had happened would speak to Gray, so it would take someone who hadn't to join him. While Gray still stood sulking, someone else walked into the bar. Once again, Gray was lucky with who it was, even though he wasn't particularly pleased about his good fortune. The newcomer propped himself up against the counter beside Gray, who rolled his eyes in response.

"Duke… Duke!" The man repeated louder so the manager would hear.

Duke returned from the kitchen holding a tray of empty glasses. "Is there anything I can do for you, Jack?"

"A glass of milk would be great, thanks."

Duke smirked as he grabbed one of the clean cups. "Well, aren't you the healthy one?"

Just as Gray had feared, the worst happened when Duke went back to the kitchen to fill up the glass. Jack had the idea to talk to him.

"I'm sorry I didn't get a better chance to introduce myself ba-."

"-I know who you are."

"Well, it's good seeing you here."

"… Hmm."

Jack bit his lip and looked at Gray oddly. He didn't look away, even after Duke returned and slid his glass of milk in front of him.

"Is it too late to add to my order? I'd actually like a beer as well. Smallest size you have," Jack corrected.

Obviously the new farmer thought he could somehow earn Gray's respect by drinking alcohol. Gray snorted in amusement as he pulled several items out of his pocket. He first counted out money to pay for his drinks, which he slid to the other side of the counter. He then unraveled Ann's list. He crossed off the final three names on the list, emphasizing the last one by gracing it with three lines. Gray finished the last of his second drink in one swig and flipped the mug over.

"Thanks," he said plainly as he waved the piece of paper in front of Jack's rather confused face.

Gray only drank two glasses of beer, but he was still stumbling about as he left the bar alone. While he certainly wasn't sober, it was probably his irritation at everyone back inside the bar that was bothering him more than anything.

As Gray walked through the empty village, though, his grumbling eventually gave way. The silence of the spring night, interrupted only by the breeze, was undeniably enchanting. He breathed deeply to ease his mind, which had been on edge ever since his incident with Karen, and thought of happier things. The temperature was perfect, the wind felt great, the trees were beautiful, and greatest of all, he was almost completely alone. The only sign of life came from the soft light still illuminating some of the buildings' windows. Among those included the bakery and the flower shop. Ellen… Popuri… Elli… There were still good people.

The lone man almost managed to crack a smile. Who cares if somebody like Karen thought he was a creep? There were plenty of others in the world that didn't like him, either. What mattered was that there were good people, and he was finally getting a chance to get to know a few of them better. That there was more than he could ask for; he didn't have much worth complaining about.

Gray retained this optimism the whole way home, and he hadn't even thought of the upcoming chance to get to tell his sister of his victorious mission.

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**Author's Notes**\- I hope you found it worth the wait! Please review if you're up to it, as always! I usually have some excuse prepared if I get any criticism, grammatical or anything else. This time it's that I was really pushing to finish this and get it up, so maybe I didn't check it over enough. So now that you don't have to worry about me feeling bad since anything wrong would _obviously_ not be my fault, go on ahead and chop away. ;) I'll take any positives you have as well! Thanks for reading!


	14. Chapter 14- Jigsaw

**Author's Notes: **Your least favorite horrific updater is back! ... Really, though, I'm a horrific updater who's back. The good news is that I've started the next couple of chapters, so maybe you won't have to wait so long. I really want to do more work on this, but I've had a hard time finding the motivation for the actual writing process, especially when I've already got an idea for another story nagging at me. I'm sure this all seems very scary, but I promise this will be completed. For reassurance, note that every other story on my profile is marked as "Complete."

This chapter probably won't feel particularly eventful, which is kind of sad considering the wait. This is partially because it was originally paired with the next chapter. I ended up cutting the chapter in half as I wanted to restore the chapter length to previous sizes after the rather long last chapter I published. Going back to some of the earlier chapters, I don't think they were too different. So don't expect too much but know that more is coming!

Please review to share your thoughts and point out any mistakes I might have made- I have a habit of rushing through editing to just get something posted. Don't be too surprised if I come back in to edit or add something to fill the chapter out. Thanks!

Lana\- Thanks so much for the review! I wonder what Gray's life has in store as well XD. I'm not sure of everything that is going to happen, but you know what might go down when you have someone who is so socially awkward and off-putting yet manages to sometimes be strangely thoughtful in his own way!

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**Chapter Fourteen- Jigsaw**

Gray slapped his sister on the knee. "Feel free to at least keep your head up," he whispered.

"Ngh… Totally awake," Ann mumbled as she raised her head from its slumped position.

"Keep telling yourself that."

Ann had a habit of not paying attention during church services, but at least she usually managed to stay awake. Perhaps it was the consistent hum of the rain beating against the nearby window that lulled her away. Ann could have argued that she just needed a bit more reconditioning into the habit of sitting through a whole service. Gray's family had only regularly attended when the siblings were children, and Ann had only recently picked back up the practice at the prodding of the other girls.

Gray found her difficulties amusing, but he couldn't defend himself much better. Small handouts were located in pouches on the back of each pew that prayer requests could be written on. Once the service was over, these could then be handed to Pastor Brown. Or, in Gray's case, the handouts made for excellent sketchpads. Once Ann was awake, they began using one to play tic-tac-toe and hangman together. Rather than a sign of disrespect, Gray saw it as a public service opportunity by helping keep Ann conscious enough to hear what the pastor was saying.

Fortunately, their father wasn't present, and they were on the back pew alone, so no one noticed what the siblings were up to. Despite his justification, Gray still felt a little bad about their actions.

"I hope you aren't always like this when you come. We shouldn't even be here," Gray confessed under his breath.

Ann frowned in irritation. "Gracious alive, Gray. It would be more disrespectful to not show up for the other girls than to just sit here minding our own business."

Gray prepared to answer but held his thought as Pastor Brown's words caught his attention.

"I know there might be some of you out there who would rather be other places right now, and that's ok. You don't have to worry about hurting my feelings." Ann looked at Gray triumphantly, but the pastor continued in the same thought. "The important thing is that something brought you here, and maybe you heard something today that speaks to your life."

"Hard to do when you aren't listening," Gray whispered to his sister with a smirk.

"Doesn't invalidate what he said before…" Ann responded with less enthusiasm.

Gray could have pointed out that Pastor Brown was making an implicit conditional statement that it was only proper for them to be there if they were listening, but he was satisfied with his partial victory. Besides, that was really the best one could hope for in a debate with Ann. Additionally, based on what the pastor was saying, they had little time left for arguing before the end of the sermon. Indeed, soon enough they were listening to Maria playing a final solo on the organ before dismissal. When people began to file out of the room, the two siblings were able to talk in louder voices as the noise of others joined in.

"Congrats on wasting an hour and a half of our time," Gray told his sister, rekindling the bickering.

"You asked for this."

"I asked you to organize an event with our peers, not invite me to the girls' Sunday brunch."

"Baby steps, Gray, baby steps. It's not easy for me to get everyone together on such short notice."

"You made me talk to everyone within a day. Not exactly a baby step."

Ann laughed. "From what I've gathered, you spent most of your time 'talking' trying to get away from people trying to talk to you."

"Only a couple times…" Gray grumbled. "And you were interviewing people to review my performance?"

"Any good manager does," Ann said with a smile while slapping her brother on the shoulder.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Manager? Of my social life?" When Ann looked at him blankly as if the answer was obvious, Gray sighed, "At least you could have invited all these people when you talked to them…" instead of making any declaration of independence from her.

Ann pretended to ignore him, but she wore an amused grin as Maria approached them hugging her songbooks to her chest.

"You sounded great today, Maria!" Ann told her. Rather than say thanks, Maria smiled and nodded.

Thankfully, Elli joined the group before Gray felt like he was obligated to add anything. "Perfect as always," Elli said with a smile as she hugged Maria.

Elli and Maria began a conversation about the meaning behind one of the songs that had played; nominally, Gray and Ann were welcome to join in, but neither knew enough about music to contribute.

This time, it was Popuri who came to Gray and Ann's rescue. Though Popuri had likely attended enough services showcasing Maria's organ performances to partake in the more intellectual conversation, she turned to the siblings after saying a quick word to Maria.

"I'm glad you convinced Gray to come to church today!" she began, directed towards Ann. "It's always a joy to see more people here."

"I don't remember it going down like that," Gray said in his normal voice, which was usually interpreted as a bitter grumble.

"Oh, I didn't do as much convincing as you might think," Ann defended. "Gray just needed a little push to get over his shyness. I think he's actually as excited to be here as I am."

A single glance at his sister was a suitable acknowledgement that Gray was aware of Ann's insincerity. Popuri didn't notice.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed it enough that your sister doesn't have to push you again next time!" she said, cheery as ever. Again, the siblings looked to each other, trying to decide whether the other thought Popuri realized that "push" had been used as a metaphor. Their verdict was that the evidence was inconclusive, and the case was dropped.

Gray looked away to check the open door for a moment to see if the weather had improved any; once he returned back, he discovered that Popuri had already raced on to other subjects.

"Things are looking up! It hasn't been easy ever since Pete stopped taking care of his fields; at that point, the only seeds we could sell in town were for the occasional flowers. We use the vegetable seeds to plant stuff in the greenhouse, which we can eat or sometimes sell, which Dad says does more to save money than make any. Jack looks to be getting things off to a good start, though, which is a pretty big deal!"

Popuri had the ability to ramble, but at least she always seemed to be passionate about what she was saying. Gray could admire that.

Without hardly taking a breath, Popuri leaned over to the other girls to let them know that she was hungry and ready to eat. While some people would be offended by having their conversation interrupted, Maria and Elli were agreeable enough to go along.

Excluding Ann, all of the girls pulled out umbrellas before stepping out, which Gray couldn't help but find amusing. The rain had already reduced to a drizzle by the end of the service, and the effort to pull the umbrella out and then retract it wasn't worth the effort for the short walk to the bar. Though the bar was not open for lunch on weekdays, it did provide Sunday brunches, usually aimed at the churchgoers. Rather than the usual service, Duke would be assisted by Lillian and Maria's mother Anna. Instead of ordering from a menu, everyone would be provided a plate of whatever they decided to cook that day. The food was technically free for guests, though there was a recommended donation for their effort. Gray had gone a few times with Zach for the discounted food, but he never felt quite right eating food that was clearly intended for people who had been to church just before.

Unlike Ann and Gray, Karen didn't have the social graces to care about attending the service to make Maria, Elli, and Popuri happy. The girl from the vineyard strutted into the bar not long after the others had arrived and found a table. When Karen laid eyes on Gray, she immediately stopped mid-step. The lines on her face revealed a battle deciding between whether to join the group or stomp right out. Finally, she elected on a compromise by stomping towards the table.

"What the heck is he doing here?!" she said with a finger pointed at Gray, more accusing than questioning. Gray himself didn't react, but Popuri (whose back was to Karen) jumped in surprise while the other girls at the table frowned uncomfortably.

Ann was the only one there with the gall to stand up to the walking firecracker. "We have a guest today… for one meal. No one else thought it was that big of a deal; we're all friends here."

"… Yep." Despite speaking in the affirmative, Karen sounded rather doubtful of her support. She probably wouldn't have agreed at all were it not Ann reasoning with her.

The conversation first turned towards what was said at the service that morning; a regrettable choice, as Gray and Ann didn't listen well enough to participate, and Karen wasn't there at all. Make that two conversations in a row for Elli and Maria. Nice going. The only times the discussion was of any interest to Gray was whenever Popuri had something to say. It wasn't really the content of what she said; rather, there was just something about her smile that intrigued him. It carried some sort of innocence that Gray himself had lost long ago.

While Popuri wasn't talking and he was still waiting for the girls to find something else to prattle about, Gray's attention shifted between the kitchen and Karen's expression. From Gray's experience, the food was usually ready by this time, but it was possible that the rain had delayed the morning's schedule. By trying to get a look into the kitchen, perhaps he could get an idea of much longer he had to endure the brutalizing wait. At the same time, he was having to contend with periodic dirty glances from Karen, who was acting as if she constantly needed to remind him of her feelings about Gray sitting with them. You would have thought that Karen believed Gray was getting some sort of sick satisfaction from interrupting her routine. The reality, though, was that Gray hardly needed any extra motivation to feel out of place.

It may have been coincidental timing, but Elli abruptly shifted the conversation after catching one of Karen's glimpses. "So, the Sowing Festival is coming up this weekend. How exciting!" Elli tried, though her voice was too serene to actually sound all that excited.

Ann smirked as Gray groaned. He shook his head when he saw his sister. "Don't start."

"Ah, come on, Gray!" Ann insisted. "You're being ridiculous."

Gray didn't like festivals, but there were few that annoyed him more than the Sowing and Harvest Festivals. First, the election of the Harvest King provided an obnoxious opportunity for an annual popularity contest. The whole thing was, of course, advertised as being randomized- cakes were handed out to all of the men of the village during the the fall's Harvest Festival, and whoever found a hidden coin baked into his was the lucky winner. Luck had nothing to do with it, of course. Every year, the cakes would be set out on a long table with a card next to each of the plates giving the name of who was destined to eat it. Someone had to know which cake contained the coin, and there were too many opportunities for the cards and cakes to be switched for a more favorable outcome. Gray, naturally, had never won; not that he cared, of course, but being reminded every year that no one really likes him, as any other message in repetition, grows old fast. During the Sowing Festival, the Harvest King then gets to ride up in a hot air balloon- something Gray actually would have liked doing but never got the chance.

"Just because I'm not naïve enough to assume that-."

"Just because you're too cynical to see anything but the wors-."

"I can do math, Ann. The results don't match the odds."

"Really?" Ann was visibly trying her hardest to conceal a laugh. "You mean to tell me the Potion Shop Dealer won it this time because all of Flowerbud is fawning over him? … No offense to the guy."

Ann had a point, but Gray recovered after a momentary hesitation. "It's because he saved my leg."

At this time, the conversation had slowed enough for the other girls to process what was being said, all of whom had looked completely lost (excluding Maria, who looked quite attentive but equally uninterested in adding her opinion).

"If that was the case, wouldn't we have given it to you instead? … If we felt bad?" Elli added quietly, almost embarrassed to side against Gray. He was surprised she said anything at all until it occurred to him that as she was responsible for baking the cakes, accusing the festival of dishonesty was presumably attack on Elli's integrity. After seeing the look on Elli's face, it was clear that a conversation that was traditionally a source of playful debate between siblings suddenly turned rather awkward. To be fair, Ann did bring it up.

"I wasn't an option as I wasn't there," Gray noted in a sullen tone. He had a right to defend his argument, but Gray was aware that the girls were beginning to look even more uncomfortable. Likely, they attributed his absence from the previous Harvest Festival to his stretch of melancholy. That was actually not the motivation for missing out, though.

"Because I was working at Pete's that day," he explained. "So he could go. Probably one of the last festivals he went to… before…" Gray stood up, nearly tripping himself on his chair. "I wasn't accusing you, Elli, about the festival. Intentionally. Obviously you wouldn't. I was talking about others, like, well… sorry."

Gray took off without even waiting for his meal- a good thing, as it would save them a waste of food and a donation. Popuri called out for him to stop, but everyone else was smart enough to realize that any further conversation would only take the disaster to new heights. Karen even muttered, "Good riddance."

Once the doors slammed behind Gray, Ann sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Gray usually finishes off my leftovers... Anyone want to share?"

"But he's coming back, right?" Popuri asked.

The four girls stared at her. In a rare voicing, Maria responded to Popuri in case that wasn't a direct enough answer. "I would not expect so."


	15. Chapter 15- Pressure

**Author's Notes**\- Update! Such Fast! Wow! I don't think I've ever actually updated something so fast. To be fair, it's kind of cheating as most of this was already written by the time I uploaded the last chapter. Well, let me enjoy my victory.

Annie Thea\- I can't say enough how much I've appreciated your reviews (so far! They're still rolling in as I write this). You've made a lot of observations about details that were very intentional (e.g. Ann coming off as forced and overreactive when Gray is at his worst. She absolutely feels awkward here.) but also brought up some other useful points that I hadn't thought about. Obviously, I can't go through everything here, but I certainly wouldn't mind discussing some through PM. As you observed, I try to keep a pretty streamlined narrative (which occasionally might make things feel rushed), while you have a focus on really visualizing the scene. A great example of this is when you mentioned wishing to have more descriptions about the other horses and jockeys in the Chapter 2 race. From my perspective, these characters weren't important to the overall story outside of this scene, so I only gave the details that need to be known. However, the lack of imagery might hurt the ability of some readers to be pulled into the scene or even just follow it. Because I need to be able to make a story that can satisfy all kinds of readers, your unique criticism is definitely useful for me. Thanks so much, and please keep it going :)

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**Chapter Fifteen- Pressure**

Gray managed to avoid social interaction through the rest of the week, allowing him to recover from his less than stellar outing at brunch. Given that work kept him occupied, he had no need to explain his absence to anyone. That, of course, ended that weekend with the Sowing Festival.

Even ignoring the questionable practices that went behind the election of the Harvest King, Gray had other issues to take with the Sowing Festival. Gray was a cattle rancher, so the festival's emphasis on farming didn't really do much for him. In fact, it was actively bothersome. During the festival, a hot air balloon would take the Harvest King and an assistant of his choosing up on a ride above the town square. Their job once the hot air balloon is at its peak in the sky, set by the length of the tethers keeping the balloon from flying off, is to cast down seeds to symbolize the sowing of the new year's fields. The problem with this little show is that ninety percent of the seeds end up landing right back on top of the people in the square below. What part of having to wash seeds out of your hair for the next week counts as being fun?

Sometimes, things could get even worse. It had only been a couple years since the mayor somehow managed to choke himself after drinking from a cup that he didn't realize had been dive-bombed by a glob of spinach seeds. The scary tens seconds before he finally coughed them up, though, were more than made up by getting to watch Duke and Jeff, who were up in the hot air balloon on that fateful trip, trying to pin the blame on the other. It was deemed a freak accident that probably had more to do with the mayor overacting to the unexpected sensation in his throat than the actual size of the seeds; as Gray saw it, though, it was only a matter of time before the archaic practice was dropped.

On this particular year, there was time before the dangerous part of the proceedings to converse with the other villagers, but Gray had yet to venture out any further than Ann's side.

"You know, I do plan on hanging out with my friends at some point," Ann finally warned.

"And you expect me to talk to them? Last time was a disaster," Gray sighed.

"Yep."

"They probably think I'm a loser now."

"Absolutely."

Gray looked at her oddly. "That's pretty straightforward, even for you."

"Thought you were one for honesty. Look, it's not so bad!" Ann said with a slap in the back that was somehow both teasing yet meaningful at the same time. "I'd characterize your current image more like that loser who's awkward but you don't mind being around as opposed to some standoffish jerk that people will avoid. So maybe closer to a Rick than a Saibara… well, that was kinda mean. But really, though, it's a step up- especially if you learned something from last time."

"Yeah. Don't talk around other people like I do around you."

"Not a bad start," Ann agreed.

At this point, Mayor Thomas gathered the crowd closer in a circle around the hot air balloon, which had been readied for use by Rick and Pastor Brown. After saying a few words about the importance of the sowing season and other stuff Gray didn't care about, the mayor then reminded everyone that the Potion Shop Dealer was the year's Harvest King. The named Harvest King subsequently chose his grandson Stu to go up with him.

"Disappointed it's not you?" Gray asked his sister as they returned to their previous position.

"Golly no! You realize Rick put that thing together, right? Imagine how bad it would hurt if went down!"

Ann used the opportunity to make fun of their cousin, but didn't get around the fact that she was scared of heights, likely dating back to her fall from that dumb tree. Maybe it was unfair to make fun of her over a traumatic experience, but frankly she always made a much bigger deal out of it than it ought to have been. Ann being overdramatic? That wasn't exactly a first.

Gray opened his mouth, ready for a prime opportunity to get the better of her teasing, but Ann acted faster.

"You know, it's about time to go talk to the girls. I don't know how long people will be staying afterwards."

"I'm not joining," Gray grumbled.

"Good! I'm sure you'll find someone else to talk to."

"Don't count on it," Gray muttered to himself as she walked away.

It was a good thing Gray didn't put any money down on that claim. It seemed like Ann was only gone for a few seconds before someone tapped her brother on the shoulder. To his surprise, Gray turned to see Popuri smiling up at him. And Ann would have made it sound like all the girls were grouped together in a pack wherever it was she was going…

"Yeah?" Gray asked shortly.

"Hi-ho!" After finishing what seemed to be her habitual greeting, Popuri's voice took on a bit more serious inflection. "Hi, I just want to apologize for what happened last time we met."

"Apologize?"

"Well… I was worried that I might have somehow caused what happened…"

"Popuri," Gray said in as frank of a voice as possible, "besides maybe Maria, you were the only person there who didn't have anything to do with what happened. … Thanks, actually. You're the only one to come say anything."

The pink-haired girl giggled. "It's not because they don't care. Maria and Elli are just too shy to come say anything. No one said anything bad about you when you left."

Gray smiled thinly. "Not even Karen?"

For just a moment, one could see Popuri hesitate. "Not really. Listen, though. Even if you don't come back with us for brunch again, which I would totally get, you're always welcome to stop by and say hi to me whenever you want!" Popuri opened her mouth to say more, but her expression inexplicably changed as if she had misspoken. "… I'll see you later, Gray." The young girl hoped a step away and grinned one last time before spinning around and walking off.

Apparently, just standing there looking unpleasant wasn't enough to keep people away. At least not Popuri. At first, it struck Gray as strange that it always seemed to be Popuri who came to him during public events to talk. But then again, that wasn't so out of character for her…

In order to avoid looking too available for another conversation, Gray went to find Lillia, who was in charge of maintaining all of the personal balloons that would be released once the Harvest King began to scatter the seeds. To get there, he had to duck under the ropes tied around several of the square's light poles that were latched on the other ends to the hot air balloon's basket. The balloon had only begun its ascent, so Gray would have to survive at least a few more minutes before he could escape.

Gray's plan unfortunately backfired. After retrieving his balloon, Gray started to make a beeline for the nearest corner of the square he could find, dragging the useless green sphere of rubber behind him by its string. He didn't get far before someone stepped out of the crowd. By hurrying over to Lillia, Gray was the first person to be handed a personal balloon, attracting a certain someone's attention.

"Hey, am I supposed to be getting one of those, too?" Jack accosted as Gray walked by with balloon in hand.

Gray suddenly stopped, causing his balloon to bounce against the back of his head. "Some would say," he said reluctantly.

"What's the point of them?"

"Good question."

"Well, what do others usually do with them during this festival?"

Gray finally looked at him directly with a slight smirk. Jack was aware that Gray was avoiding the question but continued to insist for a proper answer all the same. By doing so, the fastest way for Gray to finish the conversation would be to just answer him straight. It was a decent trick.

"Release yours when everyone else does," Gray relented. "They have seeds in them."

Jack said his thanks and left to go retrieve one of his own. Gray didn't bother to try retreating to a more private area again, as any effort he made never seemed to go as intended. At least no one else was interested in bothering him.

Gray's chance for solitude only lasted a moment, though, as the obnoxious farmer returned and took a place not far to Gray's left. Technically, Jack wasn't doing anything wrong (well, besides thinking that wearing a hat on backwards made him more "cool" or something)- he was only quietly watching the hot air balloon rise in the sky. Even so, his choice of location to stand was suspiciously close to Gray.

"You look like you want to say something," Gray finally observed, too curious of Jack's intentions to let the silence continue. If you're going to be stuck participating in some stupid festival, you mind as well go all out and find the stupidest person to talk to.

Jack shook his head. "Nothing serious. Just thought I might ask for some advice whenever we got the chance."

"About cattle?"

"Not exactly. You see, I'm going to be riding in the upcoming-."

"- You're what?" Gray cut off brusquely. "That horse is only two years old."

"Nearly three, actually," Jack clarified. "And it will be running in a special two-year-old maiden race, so I doubt it will be that fast. Since Crutcher will be one of the oldest in it, we'll actually have a head start."

"We'll?"

Jack smiled. "I try to see this as Flowerbud's horse as much as mine, which is why I'm asking for any tips you might have."

Gray shook his head. "My advice? Don't run a two year old. Besides that, don't hurt the horse and don't fall off… do that and you'll be doing better than me."

The farmer nodded, trying his hardest to act like Gray's counsel was actually useful. Not even he had the tenacity to suggest that it was in words. "Well, alright," he said after giving Gray a chance to add something. "I was told that racing a two year old for a single race was fine, and everyone would be disappointed if I scratched tomorrow, but I'll keep that in mind for the future. If you think of anything else, let me know!"

Jack finished his statement just in time before Mayor Thomas whistled loudly, giving the order to release the balloons so they could rise to their inevitable doom. As they did, it was only a few seconds before the two passengers of the hot air balloon were tossing seeds onto Gray's head and down his shirt. All he could do was bow and shake his head in resignation. At least talking with someone would distract him from the greater nuisance.

"How the heck did you come up with a name like Crutcher, anyways?" Gray inquired over the excitement.

"I didn't," Jack explained. "That was what your sister was calling him before your family gave the horse to me. I figured there wasn't any reason to switch it now."

Fair enough. Though Ann had obviously nicknamed the colt after Gray, it would probably an appropriate name for Jack's horse after his race. Gray wasn't sure how much training the greenhorn had done with the horse, but they certainly wouldn't be prepared against horses ridden by jockeys with actual experience, many of whom raced for a career. Jack's chances of hitting the board were about equal to those of the seeds being dropped from the hot air balloon not hitting the ground.


	16. Chapter 16- The Line

**Author's Notes**\- Sorry to say that I've had most of this written since summer but ran into life before adding the finishing touches. Not a long chapter, but a fairly important one. I don't really have all that much else to say this time, so I'll just let ya read. Thanks!

starxnova08\- Thanks so much for the encouragement! :D I try to make things flow so as to not disrupt events from the game. I do expect I'll be making some additions that will shake things up for the sake of the plot, though, as readers will soon find out.

Annie Thea\- I'm glad you enjoyed the conversation with Pete and Ellen- it was one of my favorites to write. As for your grammar correction for Chapter 9, you're absolutely right. However, I sometimes intentionally use poor grammar in dialogue in order to make it sound as I think a person would talk. The same sometimes goes for sentences that aren't specifically dialogue but represent Gray's thoughts. Please point any sentence that doesn't make sense, though! (or if the grammatical error is not in dialogue!)

* * *

**Chapter 16- The Line**

Gray had been to many horse races in his life, but it had been years since he'd be attending them as a spectator. Though not riding himself, Gray had to wake early that morning to walk Cliffgard to the racetrack stable and give his new jockey a few tips on how to ride him. The poor kid looked practically terrified when Gray ordered him firmly to make sure no harm came to the horse. Once Gray was finished, he briskly found his way to the spectator hillside. The sight of suited jockeys and trainers preparing the day's tack, the smell of fresh hay, the whinging of nervous horses ... staying any longer would only encourage unhealthy nostalgia.

By the time Gray reach the spectators' hillside, Doug, Ann, and Rick had already arrived, rolled out a blanket to sit on, and set out some snacks. It wasn't long before the crowds began to thicken as the activities neared.

Between races, Gray and Rick played cards while Doug and Ann looked through previous race times to help lay down bets. Though Rick probably would have been happy to continue the card games through races where Flowerbud had no stakes at play, Gray couldn't help but turn away to watch the outcome of each race. The ex-jockey was on edge the entire day, instinctively squeezing his fists any time the horses gathered in a pack. After personally experiencing an accident, suddenly even the tamest moves looked primed for disaster.

In contrast, everyone else's expressions ranged from disinterest to outright boredom. For most, the races were more of a social or gambling event than a sport. They probably would have been quite happy to see someone else fall for some more action. To be honest, Gray couldn't blame their boredom too much. Most of the day's races saw the favorites placing, while there were just enough mild surprises to spoil any boxes.

While most residents of Flowerbud were only interested in seeing Jack's race, Cliffgard's performance in the third race was in theory much more important to Gray's family. Regardless of whether Gray was riding him, Cliffgard bore the reputation of Green Ranch as trainers. Though Gray still took care of Cliffgard and Ann would take him out for rides, the zeal of the training was admittedly not the same since the accident.

Before Cliffgard's race, Zack and Popuri came by to wish Gray and his family luck, but it didn't seem that hardly anyone else even realized that it was their horse running. Whatever. Just meant they'd have fewer people drop by expressing their "grief" if the horse did poorly.

As it turned out, Cliffgard did neither great nor terrible, landing in a respectable third place. Considering that Gray knew they hadn't trained Cliffgard hard enough since the accident and that the jockey was an idiot, he wasn't too disappointed in the finish. It was a fine demonstration of the horse's true potential- if the performance was strong enough to convince a better jockey that Cliffgard was worth a chance, they just might have something going forward.

Gray's optimism didn't stretch towards Jack's upcoming race. The races with larger purses went earlier in the day to ensure that they would see high attendance before people began to filter out. Visitors who came to Flowerbud to watch the more important horses, many of whom came ready to bet, were known to leave early to give enough themselves enough time to make it home before the end of the night. For that reason, Jack's dreg race of juvenile maidens was the final of the day.

To people's credit, attention did turn to the track when Jack, decked in red silks, finally left the paddock atop Crutcher. Most cheered when he tipped his cap on the way to the line.

Not so with Gray's family. Doug, seemingly happy enough with Cliffgard's performance to joke, leaned over to his son's ear.

"Kid looks like he's scared of the horse! Look how uncomfortable he's sitting, like there's a bur in the saddle or something," he said in no small amusement.

Doug was trying to whisper, but Ann had no difficulty hearing him. "Don't be too hard on him," she critiqued, not explicitly denying her father's assertions. "He's been around horses for decades less than any of us… well, besides you, Rick." She had almost forgotten that her cousin was there helping himself to handfuls of kettle corn.

Gray was eating from the same bowl as Rick but with smaller portions. "Yet he thinks he's ready."

"I don't know," Rick interjected between bites. "All you do is sit there and hold on. How complicated could it be?"

The question was stupid enough that none of the others could even answer. Instead, Doug pointed back to the track. "They're pulling up to the line. Looks like Jack pulled the one slot. My money says he gets himself pinned in on the rail. Any takers?"

"No one's taking that, Pops," Gray noted after no one answered. The only person Doug might have had a chance of stealing from was Rick, but the reaction to Rick's previous comment must have convinced him to keep quiet.

"I sure hope he doesn't go over…" Ann finally muttered, revealing her similar concerns.

As the bell rung, Jack quickly found himself in the middle of the pack. By the end of the first turn, the horses had spread out well enough that Jack's job was almost as simple as Rick made it sound. Gray hadn't bothered to read the race's chart or examine the horses in the paddock, but he recognized that some of the smarter jockeys in the race (who would only ride horses they thought had a good chance of winning) had settled in the vicinity of Jack and Crutcher. If that was anything to go off of, Jack had actually got himself into a decent position to have a shot of doing something.

Remarkably, Jack held his fifth place position through the entirety of the backstretch. It seemed as if all the horses were running at the same pace ever since the bell, with the jockeys either unable or unwilling to shake things up. As the lead came around the turn, whispers of hope began to turn to shouts of excitement.

Jack was making a move. He pulled Crutcher out wide in order to pass the horse in fourth. He was beginning to look at a strong performance!

… And that was as close as he would come. Jack pressed Crutcher harder, but the horse refused. Crutcher was simply out of gas. One by one, other horses blew by as they sped up while Jack's slowed down. Thankfully, as it was near the end of the race, poor Crutcher only had enough running space to fall one place from last.

If Jack was embarrassed, as he should have been, he did a darn good job of hiding it. No one could really fake being happy from such a result, though. When Jack lowered his goggles to his neck, there was no expression at all on his dirt-stained face.

While the hill had been struck silent from disappointment, with the exception of a few assorted visitors who had just hit their bets, Gray found himself beginning to chuckle as the horses began to file towards the paddock.

"That horse of Jack's is looking about as comfortable as a broodmare stuck sharing a stall with a gelding," he finally explained when saw his family watching him in confusion.

"More like it's looking as excited for Jack to finally get off the saddle as a cribber that's just stumbled into a lumber mill," Doug joined in.

The taunting likely would have continued had Rick not piped up. "Hey Gray... don't you have to go to the barn to pick up Cliffgard before we head out?" he asked in a voice that didn't clarify whether it was a legitimate question or a ploy to get Gray to leave.

Gray grunted. Regardless of his motivations, it was probably the only accurate thing Rick had said all day. As Gray stood up and wiped some grass off of his hands, Ann mouthed "Thank you" to Rick for ending other two men's rather embarrassing public mocking of Jack.

Still, Gray couldn't help but smirk on his way down the hill. It actually had less to do with Jack and more with the look of shear disappointment on all the people's faces after just beginning to believe there was a chance of a fairy tale ending for some nobody from the city.

The barn was located on the far side of the paddock, so Gray took a shortcut there by hopping over the paddock's fence. As he did, he saw Jack in the first stall undoing Crutcher's saddle. While Gray had half expected to see the city boy struggling to hold back tears, Jack held the same blank expression he wore while still in plain view of the spectators. For some reason, Gray found himself walking to Jack's stall and leaning against its wooden wall. Jack kept at his work.

"Tough luck," Gray said finally.

"No luck about it," Jack replied stoically. "Crutcher just didn't have the stamina."

"You're blaming the horse?"

"I'm blaming myself. I didn't know what I was doing while training."

"I think this is the first time I've seen you without some dopey smile on your face," Gray noted.

Jack shrugged. "I let everyone down. Seems wrong to smile after that."

"You don't look terribly upset either."

For some strange reason, Jack actually smiled a little. "Don't see what good that would do. It just means I'll have to try harder next time."

"It's not a matter of trying," Gray corrected in a more serious voice. "A horse actually needs a trainer that knows what he is doing."

Jack looked up to Gray, with a faint twinkle in his eye. "Someone like you?"

"Yeah," Gray agreed plainly.

Jack stared at Gray significantly until Gray caught wind of his intentions.

"Wait… you're offering a job?" Gray asked hesitantly, unsure of his own conclusion.

"Sounds kinda formal, but sure," Jack confirmed with another shrug.

"Sudden question," Gray quickly observed, almost defensively.

"I didn't take you for one who enjoyed long-winded conversations," the boy from the city teased.

Gray wasted a few seconds trying to dislodge a kernel of kettle corn from between his teeth before answering. "I'm busy dealing with my own ranch. And I can't teach that horse a thing with you being a control freak and telling me how to do my own job."

For the first time, there was just a hint of fatigue in Jack's voice. "I don't want to be a control freak, and I don't want to tell you how to do your job." After removing Crutcher's saddle, Jack finally addressed Gray face-to-face. "Here… give yourself a night to think about it. If you have any interest at all, stop by my ranch and we can work out the exact details to your liking. I'd consider any help a favor, Gray… if Crutcher doesn't do any better next time, I'm not going to hold it against you."

Gray grunted and turned to lean his shoulder against the stall so he wouldn't have to make eye contact with Jack. Instead, he returned eye contact with Cliffgard, who was sticking his head out from the one of stable's windows across the paddock. Cliffgard's dark eyes were directed at Gray with an unerring stare that almost audibly begged his owner to open his gate and start the walk home. Gray grunted again, but he was hardly disappointed for an excuse to leave. He didn't say goodbye as he left Jack, but the boy from the city was again fiddling with Crutcher's bridle and seemed too preoccupied to care much. Gray was almost a little disappointed to not earn a reaction, taking glances back to the paddock as he approached the stables to make sure he didn't miss anything.

"Come on. Stop staring at me like I just cut your meal allowance in half," Gray muttered to Cliffgard as he finally untied the stall gate and took a hold of the horse's lead rope.


End file.
